Heaven and Hell
by p1nkmans
Summary: Walkers rule the world & the survivors are in flight or fight mode. Olivia only has Carl & has become close with Shane until someone she loves comes back & changes everything. This is only the start of difficult things yet to come. Daryl/OC
1. Survival

"Are you looking at old pictures again Liv?" I turned around to face Carl who was standing at the entrance of our tent. I buried my head in my pillow and laughed. I shoved the picture I was looking at of my family under it.

"Of course not," I lied. I sat up and crossed my legs and flashed a smile at Carl. "Why aren't you with Sophia?"

"It's dinner time," Carl replied, "Well, can soup or cream of corn time." He made a face which caused me to laugh. Carl walked in the tent and sat down next to me. He was about to open his mouth to say something when he was cut off by the tent flap opening revealing Shane.

"Everyone's away eating. Are you in for a quick one?" Carl turned around to look at Shane while I stared at him with my eyes wide opened. "Oh, hey guys. Quick game of poker?" He rubbed the back of his neck staring intently at Carl.

Smooth. Real smooth.

"I don't know about you Carl, but I'm starved," I replied quickly as I stood up and walked out of the tent with Carl, my arm slung over his shoulders.

"This food you seem to complain about, you have to remember it's better than tree bark," I said. "Or leaves or…"

"Ok, fine," Carl murmured. "I just wish you brought some candy or something." I snorted as the two of us made our way to our makeshift dining area. Almost our entire camp was already sitting down. I sat next to Amy, who I became close with after Glenn left with the others. We were practically the same age and not to mention shared the same fear about something bad happening to Glenn and Andrea... And of course the others that left.

"I hope they come back soon," Amy said as her left leg bounced up and down while she ate. "And they bring better food and clothes." Dale glanced up at her with a small smile. "Sorry Dale. Food's food, right?"

"You and Carl are basically the same person," I said to Amy. "You haven't embraced the…" I picked around at the cream of corn that was given to me "deliciousness of this…stuff."

"Says the girl who would always complain to her mama about what was for dinner that night," Shane said. He sat across from Liv and smirked.

"Maybe mom was just a horrible cook," I replied. I averted my gaze and continued to pick at my dinner. I really didn't want to eat this but it was food. I can't be picky when life as we know it is in turmoil.

"Shane's right," Carl said. "You always used to argue with mom about food. Remember when you didn't eat for three straight nights because you suddenly became a vegetarian?"

"No Carl." I elbowed him hoping he would stop talking about the past and took a bite of the corn. I really hated corn but I literally had no choice. "Where's Daryl?"

I noticed he was the only one not at the table. Whether it was the bad boy persona, his grungy look or his attitude, I secretly had a small crush on him. He was an asshole about 95% of the time, but ever since Merle left with the rest of the group the five percent niceness Daryl had was shown; usually just around me. He taught me how to use a bow and arrow to catch squirrels but of course I had epically failed at that. They were far too small for a beginner like me. He constantly made fun of me for that but I knew he wasn't purposely trying to be a dick.

"He's been looking for something bigger to eat then squirrels," Carol piped up. "Hopefully he's back already. Did anyone check his tent?"

"I'll go see," I said. I scooped up a bowl for Daryl and headed to go find him. I quickly made it to his tent and noticed he wasn't inside. I promised Carl I wouldn't wander too far from the camp without him but I walked a little into the wooded area. I made it about a few yards when I heard someone walking towards me. I froze and was about to reach around for my dad's old gun when Daryl made his presence known.

"You planning on throwin' that bowl at me or poppin' me?" he questioned.

I pursed my lips and smiled at him, "No. I was trying to bring you some dinner. I see you found more squirrels." Daryl hoisted a handful of squirrels which caused me to squirm. It was meat but squirrels were too cute to eat; cuter than cows which made it no problem for me to eat most of my life.

"I found a lake about half a mile out," he replied as the two of us started walking back to the camp. "You up for some fishin' tomorrow? Or is that too disgusting for you, princess?"

"I know how to fish."

"Oh do you?" he asked sarcastically. "I'm shocked."

"Don't be a douche," I replied. We made it back to his tent and he dropped the squirrels outside, taking the bowl from my hands we sat outside his tent. "My dad used to take us fishing every summer. So I do know my way around a fishing line."

"No shit," Daryl replied with a mouth full of corn. "You look more like the dainty princess that didn't do shit with her daddy. You probably didn't even put the bait on your line." I scoffed loudly and smacked him on his leg.

"If you must know I did use bait," I replied. "Live bait too." I saw Daryl roll his eyes. "Fine, don't believe me Dixon. I'll just prove you wrong by catching more fish then you."

"You can go digging in the dirt for worms then," he said. He slurped down the rest of his dinner and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Unless you don't want to ruin what's left of that fancy ass manicure you have."

I looked down at my fingers. They were no longer perfectly manicured. They were bitten short and no longer had any color on them. It had been a long time since I had even bothered to paint them. If I were anything like the person I was a year ago or even five months ago I would greatly despise what I've turned into.

Then again it wasn't like I had a choice on how to live my everyday life. I hadn't had a proper shower in my own bathroom in two months. I showered a few times in Dale's RV and in a lake at the last place we were camped at but I wasn't fully clean.

"If you want worms so much you can get them yourself," I told Daryl with my eyebrow cocked.

"You can wash my bowl then," he said holding his bowl out to me. I rolled my eyes and stood up. I flipped him off and walked back towards my tent. I walked in and went to lie down on my back. Once it started getting dark, Carl made his way into the tent.

"Are you asleep?" he asked. I heard him sit and take off his shoes. He slipped in to his sleeping bag next to me.

"Not yet."

"Good. I love you Liv."

I propped my head against my elbow so I can see Carl's silhouette. "Love you too kid. Sleep tight, okay?" I leaned forward to kiss him on his forehead and went back lying on my back. After a while I started listening to Carl's breathing. When I heard he was completely out I sat up and tiptoed my way out of the tent grabbing my flashlight on the way out.

I tried to silently make my way to the tent that was the furthest away from the camp. I zipped open the flap and turned off the flashlight as I crawled inside. I saw the figure lying in the middle of the tent as I zipped the flap shut again.

I straddled him at the waist and leaned forward, "You ever pull that shit again and I'll rip your tongue out," I whispered into his ear.

"Is that your way of talking dirty?" he whispered back. He sat up and massaged my back as he whispered into my ear this time, "Because you need to work on it. No ripping of body parts."

I giggled into his ear as I pressed myself closer to him. "Shut up Shane. Just for that you have five minutes to reach your peak."

Shane quickly lifted my arms up to remove my t-shirt. He then pressed his lips against mine and slowly leaned me back so my back was against the ground. Let's just say that five minutes turned into an hour and an accidental overnight stay in Shane's tent.


	2. Fishing & Unexpected Visitors

I woke up early the next morning realizing my mistake of staying overnight. I found my clothes and dressed quickly. I was hoping Carl was still asleep as I left Shane's tent and walked back to mine. When I opened the tent I let out my breath I was holding as I realized Carl was still fast asleep. That kid can literally sleep through anything.

I began rummaging through the only bag I brought with me that had clothes and grabbed shorts and a tank top. I looked over at Carl once more and he was still asleep so I changed quickly. My legs were still hairless which was good so I slipped on the shorts. Just as I pulled my t-shirt on the tent opened.

"Are you ready to go fishing?" Daryl questioned.

"Don't you knock?" I asked running my hands down my shirt to make sure I was in fact fully dressed.

"This ain't a door," he said. "You do realize that?"

"You could have barked from the outside like you normally do."

"Well look who's the comedian now. Fish tend to bite more this early so hurry your slow ass up."

By this time Carl was starting to stir and I scrunched my face up at Daryl. "Hey kid." Carl rubbed his eyes and sleepily smiled at me.

"What time is it?" he asked. I looked at my watch and noticed it wasn't even seven yet.

"Early. Go back to sleep. Daryl and I are going fishing. Stay with Shane or Carol and Sophia all day, okay? I'll be back in a few hours."

"I want to come."

"Next time, boy," Daryl said. I glared at him and he tried to force a smile to Carl. "The boat isn't big enough for three people. You can go next time."

"Okay," Carl replied. He closed his eyes and I walked out of the tent with Daryl. He shoved a fishing line to me and I snatched it from his hand. I really wanted to eat something quickly so I went to the dining area and saw Dale, Jim and Carol chatting. I grabbed two bananas and tossed one in Daryl's direction.

"Hey guys, we're going fishing," I told them as I peeled my banana. "Do you mind looking out for Carl for a bit?"

"Sure thing," Carol replied. "Since Daryl found that lake we might do laundry down there too."

"Great. Thanks."

Daryl and I started hiking out towards the lake which ended up being a pretty long walk. Daryl and I kept bickering mainly because he thought I walked too slowly. I ended up throwing my banana peel at the back of his head causing him to completely ignore me the entire walk to the lake.

The boat Daryl had found was indeed pretty small. I hoped it would handle our weight. We rowed to the middle of the lake and luckily it held our weight, fishing lines and a small container of worms Daryl dug up. He tried to contain his shocked expression while I hesitantly grabbed a worm and put it on the hook.

For the first half hour we were very unlucky. I spent most of those thirty minutes basking in the sun and be ridiculed by Daryl, of course. After a while I noticed, by squinting my eyes really hard, that some of the camp made their way to the shore of the lake. The women were indeed doing laundry. I noticed Shane and Carl nearby as well.

"Hey, your line is moving," Daryl pointed out. "Do you even know what to do?"

I snapped out of my daydream and took a good grip on my rod. "Of course I do, moron." I quickly tried to reel in whatever was caught in my line. I felt Daryl's stare as I struggled but eventually conquered reeling in the fish. Just as I pulled in the small trout I was going to victoriously wave it in front of Daryl's face when I turned to see something dangling in front of my face.

Stupidly, I let out a small shriek and realized the worm was ridiculously close to my face and open mouth. "Prick!" Daryl let out an evil chuckle as he stabbed the trout to its death.

"I should have put it in your mouth," he said. He grabbed some dirt from the container and quickly grabbed my arm before I could even defend myself. He pulled me extremely close to him while he smothered dirt around my face. I tried to break free from his tight grip but he had way more strength then me.

"Okay, I'm sorry," I said in between laughs and trying to break free. "I'm sorry I threw that banana peel at you." Daryl finally let me go just in time to notice his line had now caught something. He eventually pulled in a fish a little bigger than the one I caught. After he stabbed it he held it up to me with a look of satisfaction all over his face. "Whatever." We each put more bait on our hooks and waited around some more.

The time waiting around was so boring and it was very hot today that I decided to jump in the lake. I stood up causing Daryl to grip the side of the boat and glare at me. "I'm going in. You're such boring company."

"You go in and you'll scare away all the fish," he replied. I shrugged my shoulders as I took off my shirt and shimmied out of my shorts.

"Your loss then," I replied. I jumped out of the small boat and into the cool lake water. I resurfaced to see Daryl looking down at me shaking his head. "You're really missing out." I went under again and came back up just in time to spit water at Daryl.

"You think you're real cute, don't ya?"

I laughed at him and back floated away from Daryl. "I kind of wish we could stay here forever. What are the chances of those walkers coming in water?"

"They probably will. You might want to head to an ocean. Doubt they'd survive long in there."

"Good thinking! Let's head to the Atlantic then." I started swimming towards the boat and leaned my arms in. "Let's go."

"Just you and me?" he asked.

"Sure. We'll be Atlanta's Bonnie and Clyde." Daryl let out a genuine laugh and he shook his head once again.

"Are you coming in?" I asked. I flicked water at him again which caused him to throw a worm at me. "Fine, ass." I swam around a little bit more while Daryl caught three more tiny trout. He kept making comments about how he caught more fish than me and that proved I was a shitty fisher all along.

Eventually I got tired of swimming around and with the hesitant help of Daryl; he hoisted me back into the boat. It was the perfect opportunity to knock him in to cool him off but I doubt he would like that very much. I didn't want to get my clothes wet so I sat there in my undergarments which caused Daryl to completely avoid eye contact with me.

Today was another hot summer day which meant within minutes the awkward silence between the two of us would end soon.

"I think we're done here," he finally spoke up after I put my clothes on.

"Five fish to feed 14 people?" I questioned.

"Still have some squirrels back at camp," he said. I made a face.

"Aren't you supposed to eat it right away?" I asked. "Hasn't it gone bad yet?"

"At least two people can eat one fish," he said, "And maybe four with the bigger one. It's enough, princess." He started rowing the boat back towards the shore slowly.

"Admit it," I said as we almost reached the dock. Daryl looked at me with his eyebrow raised. "This was the most fun you had in a while."

"Don't flatter yourself," he replied.

"You had fun," I said in a sing-song voice. I poked him jokingly on his arm. He scoffed and I took that as a yes. "You might have had even more fun if you actually went in the water though."

"Yeah, I might have accidently drowned you," he replied with that same smirk on his face. "Would have been a blast."

"You're such a douche." Daryl continued to row back and eventually we made it to the dock where Shane and Carl were both standing.

"Your sister is a shitty fisher," Daryl said to Carl which caused me to smack him hard. "What? It's the end of the world and you're worried about him hearing a few bad words?" Daryl placed the fishes on the dock and hoisted himself up. He was about to reach down for my hand when Shane beat him to it. I took Shane's hand and he helped me to my feet.

Daryl who saw he was no longer needed around grabbed his fish and walked off. Carl slowly followed and left Shane and me alone behind him.

"You looked like you enjoyed yourself," Shane commented. I continued walking and ignored his comment. "You two looked a little chummy."

"Did you see that through your binoculars?" I asked. I finally looked up at him and he was looking straight at Carl. "You must have missed when I gave him a hand job."

"You know you shouldn't take your clothes off in front of just anyone," Shane commented.

"You're so right!" I replied sarcastically. "Maybe I should keep them on at all times to avoid giving anyone stiffies."

"What I mean is people like Daryl," Shane said. "You barely know him. He and his brother are a bunch of racist assholes. Just watch yourself around them."

"Daryl's not that bad," I said, "Merle is the worst. I actually like Daryl."

"He's old enough to be your father," Shane said causing me to stop and grabbed his arm.

"Is that what this is about?" I questioned. "He's younger then Dad if you really need to know. And he's younger then _you_. So don't give me your fatherly speech about what's right and wrong. I'm pretty sure the last thing Daryl wants to do is mess around with anyone in this camp especially once he realizes how goddamn possessive you are."

I started walking away from Shane and when I reached the wooded area I stopped. I was sure I saw everyone leave the lake to go back to the camp. I didn't get that much further from Shane but I waited for him to make his way to where I was standing. I was leaning against the tree when I heard him walk closer. His back was to me when I spoke him. "Take your shirt off." He stopped in his tracks and turned to me.

"What?"

"Do it," I said. "You look better without it on." He continued to stand there no complying so I walked towards him and decided to take it off for him. I dropped it on the ground and eyed his abs and eventually looked him in the eyes. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Shane closed the gap between us and cupped his hands around my face as he started kissing me. He eventually pinned me against the tree and his lips moved down to my neck. He gripped my hips and lifted me up so I was straddling him. He kissed his way back to my lips and pressed our bodies closer together. I held on tightly to his neck while he unbuttoned his pants. He staggered back a little and placed me on the ground. He fumbled around with my shorts until they were off. Our rhythm was in sync as he thrusted himself in me and I pushed my hips closer to him. Eventually the leaves and twigs started rubbing against me the wrong way. Having sex in the middle of the woods was literally the worst thing I've ever done.

I waited a little longer and eventually pushed Shane off. I stood up, brushed my behind off and slipped back into my shorts.

"That was far quicker than the last time," Shane commented. "Am I wearing you out?" He too started putting his clothes on. I was wiping the dirt off my legs when he walked closer. "You got a leaf in your hair." He pulled it out and chuckled.

"Those twigs were basically trying to get up my ass," I said. "I probably have twig burn." Shane laughed again as he put his shirt on and we started walking back towards the camp.

"Are you telling me you never had sex in the woods?"

"Are you kidding me?" I questioned. "You know I'm strictly a city girl. Dad had to practically pull me by my hair to get me to go somewhere that wasn't Atlanta." Shane laughed again. "Don't tell me you have before."

"Of course I have, girl." I rolled my eyes and let out a laugh. "At least five times. You're going to have to suck it up. No more bed sex for us anymore."

"I've only done it once on a bed," I said. "I did it a lot in a car and at work." Shane cocked his eyebrow at me. "In the kitchen at work too."

"Oh, Christ," Shane said. "I can't believe I ate at that place knowing that now." I let out a loud laugh but it was cut off by a loud car alarm.

"Was that what I think it was?" I questioned. Shane and I looked at each other in confusion and started walking faster back to the camp. Shane was quicker than me and all I heard was him yelling to turn that off. When I got closer I noticed a familiar head of hair under a baseball cap. "Glenn!" I ran up to Glenn who had his arms opened for me. I ran into his arms and squeezed him tightly. "Finally you're back!" Glenn continued to squeeze me but had to let go when Amy started shouting at him about Andrea.

"She's alright," Glenn said. "They all are." He squeezed my shoulder and flashed me a huge grin. "Glad to see you missed me."

"Are you kidding?" I replied. I leaned closer to him so only he could hear me. "I only had Amy to talk to and all she knows how to do is complain. I mean she's cool and all but jeez." Glenn chuckled as he hugged me again. I heard Shane clear his throat and Glenn let go.

"Well," Shane said, "Where is everyone else?" Glenn didn't have time to answer before a rental truck started driving towards us. I started pulling Glenn with me to go back to our tent. I really was interested in hearing all his stories because I'm sure he had a lot to say.

"You gotta meet the new guy," Glenn was saying. We were further away from everyone else now, but still within distance of everyone getting out of the truck. "He saved our asses… well except Merle." My eyes widened and I thought of Daryl.

"He died?"

"No," Glenn replied. "He was being a dick so new guy handcuffed him to the roof. He's probably still up there."

"Poor Daryl," I replied. Daryl barely spoke to anyone besides me and Merle. He only spoke with me because he realized I wasn't completely useless like everyone else not to mention I know I made him laugh. Glenn elbowed me and shook his head.

"Seriously? What about poor me? I could have died," Glenn said. I let out a laugh and massaged his shoulder. "I can't believe I let Shane talk me into volunteering to go."

"My hero," I replied sarcastically. "Wait, what do you mean Shane made you go?"

"He said something about doing one for the team or something. I forget. He was pretty convincing. And did I mention I almost died? New guy saved my ass a few times."

"Maybe I should thank this new guy. Is he cute?"

"Is that all you think about?" Glenn questioned. I laughed into my hands while Glenn playfully shoved me. "He's kind of old. But if you're into that, go for it. He kind of looks familiar though. Like I've seen him come into the pizza shop. Maybe he did."

"Dad?"

I looked to the origin of the voice and noticed Carl who was three feet in front of me. His mouth was wide open as he stared in front of him. I followed his gaze and felt weak in my knees. I saw Carl running towards the man who all this time I thought was dead.

"Liv?" Glenn asked. I felt him poke my side. I saw Carl run into his arms and knew I wasn't seeing things. He was real. My feet eventually started working and I too started running towards him. I still couldn't believe it.

"Daddy?" I asked in a small voice. He looked down at me with his blue eyes and embraced both Carl and I at the same time. I felt my shoulder was getting wet from my father's tears. And I too started crying over the father I believed to be long gone.


	3. Dead Memories

I refused to let go of my dad so soon. I knew he was right in front of me and I was actually touching him but a part of me didn't believe it. I kept thinking if I let go I wouldn't see him again.

"Ranger Rick is your dad?" Glenn asked out loud. I laughed into my dad's shoulder and turned my head. Glenn was standing to my left with Shane right behind him looking at the three of us. I turned my head and squeezed my dad one last time before letting go.

"That's the most affection I've gotten from you in 19 years," he said quietly. I gave him a blank stare. His jokes were never funny. "God, I thought I'd never see you two again." He leaned down to give Carl a kiss on the top of his head. My dad finally noticed Shane's presence and went to embrace him. The two of them looked like they were about to smooch when they finally let go of each other.

"Thank you for watching over them, brother."

"With my life," Shane replied. "Almost didn't get that one to come with me though." He was pointing at me which caused me to glare at him. "I practically had to drag her kicking and screaming." I scoffed loudly and started walking away from the group that was now forming around my dad.

"Where have you been?" Carl asked.

"I left the hospital about a week ago," my dad said. "I went home to find you guys but you were gone and my guns were gone." He looked in my direction. My dad hated anytime I got near his guns even though I knew how to use one and when to use one.

"They're safe and sound if that's what you really care about," I said turning around. "We haven't even used them much."

"I went back to the station and took as much as I could," he said holding up the duffle bag in he dropped at his feet. "It wasn't much. I almost lost it back there. Glenn saved my ass a few times." He looked over at Glenn gratefully which caused him to grin.

"Anytime Ranger Rick."

"Why do you keep calling him that?" I asked. "He's not a ranger."

"Yeah, I know. But it sounded cool," Glenn said. I really wanted to laugh but my emotions were shot. I didn't know whether to be happy, sad, or angry. I was so happy my dad was back because that meant I really wasn't an orphan, but I was so upset at the fact I was lied to. I couldn't stand looking at Shane any longer. I had put all my trust in him all this time and he had the nerve to lie to me. I wanted to blame this entire walker situation on him as well.

"You're so retarded," I said to Glenn. I pat him on his chest and started walking towards the tent. I just needed a few minutes to myself. I went on my usual position on my back with my hands resting underneath my head. My anger came back when I heard Shane's voice outside boomly loudly.

What I really wanted to do was punch him in his face; maybe break his nose, anything. The only reason I ever wanted to be close to him in the way we were was a pathetic reason; I felt guilty about the last time I was with my dad. It wasn't a Daddy issue I was having; I just needed to be close to someone in a way Carl and Glenn couldn't help me with. When I was with Shane it was like our past never existed and he wasn't my dad's best friend, he was the one person in this entire fucked up world that knew me and actually cared for me.

_It was 9 o'clock. My dad told me to be home at 6 but of course I didn't give a shit. I stood out later and I wanted to stay out later but smoking weed and eating junk food was getting boring. I wanted to go home and make sure Carl did his homework and talk to strangers online._

"_Sure you don't want to stay over tonight?" Dean asked. I wanted to but I knew my dad would most likely barge into his house in the middle of the night, pistol in hand yelling for me to come home. He didn't care at the fact I was 19 and had left the house at one point. In his eyes I was still a child. I shook my head._

"_Not tonight," I told him. "Maybe this weekend when my dad's home with Carl." I leaned over and kissed him on his lips. "Call me when you get home. I'm sure he's going to give me a lot of shit tonight." I opened the car door and slammed it shut. Dean revved the engine once and blew a kiss at me before taking off in his bright orange Challenger. I noticed my neighbor peak her head out the window and shook her head towards me. I flipped her off and started walking towards the porch where my dad stood watching the entire thing. He moved from the door when I approached it and leaned against the banister of the stairs once I closed the front door._

"_You were supposed to be home three hours ago," he said. "You said you were going to eat dinner with us for once." I shrugged my shoulders and noticed Shane was sitting at the dining room table and Carl was in the living room in front of the TV._

_I walked over to Carl and ran my fingers through his hair. "Did you finish your homework?" He looked up at me and nodded his head. "Good."_

_I walked past my dad who hadn't moved from his position. "I asked you a question, Olivia."_

"_I need to change," I said quickly and ran up the stairs before he could say anything more. Knowing him he would not yell anymore then he has already with Carl and Shane downstairs. I ran to my room, shut the door and started stripping out of my clothes. I grabbed a t-shirt and my black leggings and slipped into them. I threw my hair up and hesitantly walked back downstairs. I walked to the dining room where my dad and Shane were. They stopped talking instantly when they heard me walk up to them and sit down._

"_So what's for dinner?" I asked. I pulled my knees up and leaned back on the chair. My dad let out a long sigh which caused me to laugh. "I lost track of time."_

"_Clearly."_

"_Rude," I replied. I pursed my lips as I looked back and forth between Shane and my dad. "So, Shanester. What's up? How's the blond?" Shane let out a small laugh and stopped abruptly when my dad glared at him. "Jeez dad. I was trying to be sociable." He continued to glare at me and it was starting to get old. "You know the only reason I'm still here is because you're always working so lose the attitude father dearest. You know you need me more then I need you."_

"_That's enough Olivia."_

"_No, it's not," I snapped. "You're always acting like I'm a kid. The only thing I wanted to do was go to college away from here but clearly that didn't happen. You should think about getting a new career or at least a desk job because if you die I'm not going to watch Carl by myself. I'm nobody's mother."_

"_Where is this coming from?" he asked. I noticed Shane was starting to look uncomfortable and starting to stand up. He slowly started inching his way into the living room with Carl. "What right do you have to act this way with me?" I continued to stare at him._

"_You treat me like a tenant. Not your daughter. You've always loved Carl more than me. Sometimes I wonder if you regret that your condom broke when it came to me." I noticed his nostrils flair. He looked as if he was restraining from strangling my neck._

"_Is that what this is about? You think I love you less than Carl?"_

"_You always have!" I shouted. "I did everything I could to please you throughout my life but that was never enough. Mom never told me she was sick. You never told me. Why else would I not be around her last year? You two were a bunch of pricks about me leaving Georgia but I was so goddamn glad I wasn't here. And then you had the nerve to ask me to stay after her funeral to watch over Carl. You should have just sent him to grandma and grandpop's if you can't handle raising him."_

"_If you don't want to be here then leave," he said standing up and glaring at me inches from my face. "Go see how far in life you'll get with your bitchy attitude and ridiculous boyfriend. Take a hike, sweetheart."_

"_Whatever," I replied angrily. I stood up and started walking towards the stairs. I saw Shane was trying to distract Carl by turning the TV louder but I knew he heard everything. He turned his head quickly when he heard footsteps walking towards the stairs. I leaned against the wall by the stairs while Shane leaned on the other end. "I don't know how you two are friends. He's an asshole."_

"_Be easy on him," Shane said. "You didn't just lose your mama. He lost his wife. He probably feels like he's losing you too." I rolled my eyes and sighed._

"_I didn't ask your opinion anyways," I said. "Your opinions are just as bad, old man." I turned away from Shane and stomped my way up the stairs._

"Hey why did you leave?" Glenn asked. He walked into the tent and lay down next to me. "Your dad is pretty damn cool. I feel bad for him though, he really had no idea about all this shit going down." I stood quiet still reliving all the horrible shit I said to my dad. I never realized how much I probably hurt him with my words. "Does this mean you're kicking me out of the tent? Your dad probably doesn't want me in here, huh? I mean, you know we don't do anything since Carl's here anyways but…"

I sat up and looked down at Glenn with a big smile on my face. "You said you two saved each other's asses a few times?" He nodded his head. "So that means he might actually like you. You can stay. If not… well I guess Dale wouldn't mind you sleeping in his RV. What's one extra body, right? Or the old man can go stay with his butt buddy. I'm sure my dad's happier to see Shane than me."

"Are you kidding me?" Glenn asked. He sat up and crossed his legs. "Your dad kept talking about his kids and mainly his daughter. He didn't say the name so of course it didn't click but I should have seen it. You two have the same bright blue eyes."

"You sound like you're in love with the guy," I said. "Is he your man crush or something?" Glenn turned red which caused me to laugh. "Oh my god. This is perfect."

"I don't have a crush on him," Glenn said. "He's just really cool and stuff…"

"I won't tell anyone," I said tickling his knee causing him to break into a fit of laughter and start tickling me himself. He pinned my arms down with one hand and used the other to continuously tickle my stomach. "Stop Glenn!" My stomach started hurting from laughing so much but I tried to wriggle out.

"This is our tent," I heard Carl say. The tent flap opened and Carl stood there with my dad and Shane behind him. Glenn still had me pinned down but stopped once he realized it wasn't just Carl. He sat up quickly and cleared his throat. "That's Glenn, but you already know that. He sleeps with us."

"Does he?" my dad questioned.

"The key term is sleep, dad." He stared at me and smiled.

"Well at least you had someone to protect you," he said. "He's pretty good with a baseball bat." I saw Glenn turn red again which caused me to laugh. "So this is nice." He looked around the tent and then back down at Glenn and I.

"Well, I'm going to go," Glenn announced. "Let you guys talk." I really didn't want Glenn to leave but he got up quickly and left. My dad went to sit where Glenn was and Carl followed.

"I'll get you some clothes," Shane said. "You might want to take a shower in Dale's RV. Better than nothing."

"You're sure quiet," my dad said. He reached forward to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "You alright, babe?"

"No dad."

"Shane said he got you guys out before the things took over the city. He said you didn't see many of them?" Carl shook his head while I continued to sit there not sure how to act or what to say.

"Have you eating, Liv?" he asked.

"Liv went fishing today with Daryl," Carl piped up. "You think we can cook them soon?"

"Go ask him," I said with little enthusiasm, "Assuming you haven't told him about Merle."

"Merle's this Daryl guy's brother?" my dad asked. I shook my head. "Maybe I should talk with him. Tell him what's going on."

"Don't bother," I said. "He's going to want to kill you if you had anything to do with leaving him behind. You should let Shane do it." My dad frowned while he looked at me. I refused to look at him so he pulled my face to look at him.

"What's this about?" I kept my lips sealed while he continued to stare. Glenn was right. Every day when I looked in the mirror I noticed my bright blue eyes but I never noticed how much they mirrored my father's. "Liv?" I really wanted to tell my dad about everything Shane and I did. Maybe he would beat him up for me. I didn't know if I wanted that or not.

"He told me you were dead," I finally said. "He said you were dead and that's why he wouldn't let you come with us. I was so upset with myself because of everything I've said to you and you were supposedly gone. I never got to apologize to you and now here you are. He lied!"

"I'm sure it was some sort of miscommunication," he said. He leaned forward to pull me towards him and he squeezed me tight. "Maybe I did die for a minute."

"That's such bullshit," I said into his chest. I pushed him away from me and crossed my arms. "Stop defending him. You can die and then suddenly come back without those paddle things or whatever."

"Maybe it was just a faint pulse and he couldn't feel it," he said. He always had an answer and it pissed me off more than anything. I was about to open my mouth when I heard yelling outside. The three of us quickly got up and ran out to where everyone was at. The yelling was coming from Daryl who was currently in a chokehold from Shane.

"Let go of him," I yelled at Shane. I walked closer to the two of them while everyone was spread out avoiding them. "Shane!" He finally let Daryl drop to the floor and backed away. "What is your problem?"

"He was going after T-Dog with a knife," Shane said angrily. "You expect me to sit back and do nothing?"

"That bastard left my brother to die," Daryl spat out. He rubbed his neck still fuming.

"Your brother was a danger to us all," my dad said. He was standing behind me and tried giving Daryl a hand but he shoved it away.

"I made sure the door was chained shut from the outside," T-Dog muttered. "He's probably still up there."

"He better be," Daryl snarled. "Y'all are going to go back there and get him or I swear I'll put in a bullet in you all in your sleep." He stomped away from everyone and I felt so bad for him.

"We should go back," Glenn suggested. "We can't just leave him up there."

"I agree," my dad said, "Not to mention I was looking at the guns you have. We're going to need a lot more ammo." He looked over at me. I was completely stunned that he really wanted to leave again after he literally just came back. "You spent a lot of time in the city. Did you happen to remember any gun shops?"

"I might have seen one," I said. I tried to think of one but I wasn't coming up with anything.

"There's one on 38th and 3rd," Jim said. He never spoke much so everyone looked at him surprised.

"Then we'll go there tomorrow," my dad said.

"I want to go with you," I said. "And if you say no, I'm still going to go with you." I walked away from everyone to find Daryl. He probably didn't want to see anyone but deep down I knew he wanted someone to be there for him.

I walked towards his tenet and lightly tapped on the outside. "Daryl?" I heard him flicking open and close his pocket knife. "Can I come in?" He didn't say anything but I took a deep breath and walked in anyways. "Hey Daryl."

He continued to sit there flicking his knife. I just hoped he wouldn't stab me. "What do you want?"

"Just wanted you to know…" Daryl didn't look the type to talk about feelings or anything but he looked extremely upset about hearing of his brother. "I'm going to go with them to get Merle." His head snapped up and he looked at me.

"You trying to get yourself killed?" he questioned.

"You don't think I can handle myself?" I asked offended. "If guns attract too many of them I'm pretty good with a machete."

"Wouldn't want to piss you off," he said sarcastically. He went back to flicking his knife.

"I can see you're going to be chatty today." He looked up at me and glared. "Come on Daryl. We had such a nice day. I'm the last person you should treat like this. I'm the only person that actually enjoys your presence."

"Yeah, well you have some serious issues if that's the case," he said. He folded his knife and slipped it into his pocket. "I don't know who this sheriff thinks he is. He can't boss us around and make rules like we're his bitches."

"He's always like that," I said. "You'll get used to it eventually."

"And how exactly do you know this?"

"He's my dad," I said. Daryl stared at me and shook his head.

"I don't see it."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're nothing like him," he said.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," he said rolling his eyes, "Meaning nothing. Just take it as it is."

"Okay then…" I started to walk out of his tent when I heard his voice again.

"Thanks for caring," he said. "Just remember don't get yourself killed." I smiled to myself. I know deep down Daryl is a good guy. I just wished everyone saw the guy that came out when it was only the two of us. I turned around and went back into his tent. Catching him off guard I bent down to give him a hug. "You need to stop."

"No," I said. I laughed as I continued to squeeze him tightly but he didn't bother throwing me off. "We're going to find your brother, okay?"

"If we don't?"

"Then you can kill Shane or something," I said. I let go of him and shrugged my shoulders. "Or we can do what we always planned; go towards the coast and live on a ship in the middle of the ocean."

"That was your plan," he said. He fixed his tank top and shook his head at me. "I never said I'd go with you."

"Who's going to catch fish for me then?" I asked. "Because clearly you think I'm the worst fisherman ever."

"You ain't that bad," he muttered. "Maybe you should just stick with opening cans though. It's all your good at."

"Shut up," I said jokingly as he elbowed him. "You're so mean to me."

"You think that's mean?" he asked. "You ain't seen shit unless you grew up in my house."

"What happened at your house?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Weren't you on your way out?"

"I can see I'm not welcomed anymore," I said. I stood up and walked out of his tent, walking right into Shane.

"What were you doing in there?" he questioned. I completely ignored him and started walking away. "Liv!" I felt him grab my arm which pissed me off.

"Let go." He released his grip on my arm right away.

"What's your problem?" he asked. "What are you doing spending your time with him anyways?" I stared past him trying my best to ignore him. "Olivia?" He was reaching out for me again but I was quick enough to slap his hand away.

"Don't touch me." I saw Daryl peak out of his tent and start walking towards us.

"There a problem here?" Daryl asked. Shane stared at me, nostrils flaring.

"Maybe you should mind your business," Shane said.

"The girl said back off," Daryl said, "Maybe you should leave her alone." Shane turned around finally to stare at Daryl.

"What are you going to do about it?" he seethed. "Maybe they should have left you behind with Merle as well."

"Jesus Christ," I shouted. I pulled Shane's arm so he was looking at me. "Quick being a prick and leave him alone Shane or I swear to God I'm going to kick you so hard in your goddamn balls."

Shane was still visibly angry but he leaned down close so Daryl couldn't hear him. "The only reason you'd be sticking up with him is if you're fucking him. You better hope your daddy doesn't find out about that." I leaned back and slapped him across his face.

"I wonder what he'll say when he finds out about you then," I growled at him and angrily walked back into my tent.


	4. Dark City

I had been sitting in my tent all alone for almost an hour. I was starting to get a little hungry and decided to get up to find something to eat.

Everyone was sitting around the campfire chatting and eating what looked like the fish Daryl had caught today. I squeezed myself in between Carl and Glenn and noticed Carl was eating candy.

"Where did you get that?" I questioned. I was about to take the bag of Skittles from him when Glenn waved another bag in front of my face.

"If you stuck around longer you would have allowed me the chance to tell you I got some snacks for the kids. And some other necessities."

I grabbed the bag quickly and hugged Glenn. "You're the best."

"I know that."

I started eating the candy and Glenn kept sticking his fingers in the bag. Normally I would care but he literally went out of the way to bring supplies back for the camp that I didn't mind sharing.

"You must be so happy your dad's back." I looked up to see Jacqui talking to me. I nodded my head and smiled at her. "I'm glad there's some good in all of this. He kept talking about his kids and the whole time it was you two. So sweet."

"So you all know my story," my dad started, "Where did you and Glenn meet up at?" He was looking in my direction now. I popped a couple of Skittles in my mouth and shrugged my shoulders.

"Strip club. My name was Skittles and Glenn was my best customer."

"We worked together," Glenn said quickly. "At the pizza shop. Well, not a lot since I was the delivery guy and she was inside waitressin'. When my family turned I didn't know where else to go so luckily I made it to your home in time before they left. Shane let me tag along."

"I like the strip club story better," I replied.

"I didn't realize you were so close," my dad said. "Liv never talked much about her job."

"You never asked, Pop."

"So you weren't the one she was slammin' in the kitchen?" Shane asked. I heard some people choke on their meals and were all staring intently at both Shane and me. I glanced at Glenn who looked like he wanted to laugh.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped.

"I thought everyone knew," he said shrugging his shoulders as if he was just commenting on the dinner.

"Because I seem the type to tell everyone here my business?" I really wanted to take one of the burning logs and throw it at his face. "Why would you say something like that?"

"What did he mean anyways?" Sophia asked. She was looking across at Carl who shrugged.

Shane wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up. "You might want to take some of this fish to Daryl, darlin'. Don't want to him to pass out and be left behind tomorrow when y'all go look for his worthless brother."

"If you care so much go bring it yourself. And don't call me darlin'. I ain't your darlin'."

My dad's hand reached over Carl and he put it on my knee. "Can you please stop it?" I looked at his hand and then looked him in his eyes. "Just stop it Olivia. It was a mistake."

"It wasn't the first," I said quietly but I'm sure he heard me. I touched his hand and he took it off my knee. "I'm going to bed. Night y'all." I stood up and headed back to the only place I felt safe and alone. I was trying to fall asleep until I heard footsteps nearby. I quickly gripped the pistol I slept with.

"Dude, are you still awake?"

I released my grip and moved in my sleeping bag. Glenn climbed over me and slipped into his. He wiggled in and we were both staring at each other in the dark tent.

"What's up with you and Shane?"

"He lied to me."

"We all lie sometimes," Glenn said. He sounded like he was sticking up for Shane too. Everyone was so wrapped around Shane's finger. It was super annoying. "What did he lie about? He promise you we'd be saved soon? Someone will come for us?"

"He told me my dad was dead."

"Well, that's not cool."

"No shit."

"How did he know he was dead? Maybe the monitors went out and it just looked like he was flat lining or something. Or maybe... Didn't he say in the car that the military was shooting up the hospital? Maybe he was out of it and thought your dad was dead."

"You're not making things better, Glenn."

He chuckled and reached his arm out of his sleeping bag to put on my shoulder. "He's alive though. What's the big deal?"

I sighed loudly. "Because I thought he was dead. I'm such a horrible daughter and the only time I was there for him was to stare at his lifeless body after he got shot. So excuse me for being a little pissed off about being lied to."

"Sorry..." Glenn rubbed my arm then removed his hand from me. "How did Shane know about what you and Dean used to do?"

"I stupidly told him," I said. I groaned loudly and turned in my sleeping bag so I was lying on my stomach. "You can't deny that wasn't a douche move to tell everyone though."

"It was," Glenn admitted. "But why would he say that? What did you do to him?"

"He thinks Daryl and I are having sex and he's probably being a jealous old man."

"That's just dumb," Glenn said. "Why would you have sex with Daryl? He's... dirty and an asshole."

I laughed out loud. "You're dirty too."

"Yes, and see how nobody is having sex with me."

I laughed again. "Go to sleep Glenn. We have to get up early to go back into the city."

"Are you sure you want to go?" He asked. "It got pretty ugly and leaving Carl behind is kinda cruel."

"Don't jinx it," I said. "We'll be back and Carl has Shane so it'll be fine. Good night."

The next morning I woke up early and nudged Glenn to wake up as well. After we shared a quick breakfast of cereal from the box, my dad, Daryl and T-Dog finally emerged from their tents. 

"Morning," my dad said. He kissed the top of my head and looked at what Glenn and I were eating. "Don't you two need a bowl?" I shook my head as I grabbed another handful of cereal and shoved it in my mouth. Glenn did the same thing and eventually my dad reached in the box to do the same.

"You really don't need to come," he said.

"I told you that you can't convince me not to come," I said. "I want to go. You can stay behind with Carl if it makes you feel better."

Daryl and my dad were both staring at each other. "No, I need to fix this. We got to bring him back."

"Maybe we should leave your kid on the top of a roof," Daryl suggested which caused me to glare at him. "I'm just throwing out ideas. It's her or one of y'all. He's up there because of you two." His knife was pointing at both T-Dog and my dad but neither of them said anything.

"Well, I'm ready to go," Glenn said. He pulled on his backpack and stood up like a kid waiting for his family to leave for Disneyland.

"You should go tell your brother goodbye," my dad suggested. "He's upset that you're leaving him."

"You're leaving him too," I said. I sighed loudly and stood up to start walking back towards the tent when Carl started coming out. He ran towards me and hugged my waist.

"Why do you have to go?"

"I'll be back," I told him. I hugged him back and kissed the top of his head. "Don't worry about me or Dad. We'll be back. We promise." Carl removed his grip from me and I held him by his shoulder's arm's length. "You stay close to Dale or Carol. Do not leave their sight, do you understand?" Carl shook his head and I hugged him once more. "We'll be back in a few hours."

"I still don't believe you're going to go out and risk your life for Merle Dixon," Shane commented. I was trying my hardest to ignore him when he came on with Carl before we left but he had to open his fat mouth.

"We already discussed this Shane," my dad said. "We need the ammo; maybe more guns too. We have to do this."

"You're only going back to save Merle. The guns and ammo are just an excuse. You just got back and you're leaving one kid behind and allowing the other one to go with you out there. You have no idea if she can even protect herself. You're risking too many lives Rick. You need to think about this."

"I've thought about it all night," my dad said. He was shaking his head and walking closer to Shane. "I'm not like you. I can't leave a man no matter how much of an asshole he is."

"She's going to get herself killed," he said pointing at me. "At least make her stay."

"He isn't making me do anything," I said annoyed. "This is my choice."

"What are you trying to prove?" Shane asked. He walked around my dad and was staring at me. I looked over at Daryl who was standing in the back of the rental truck ready to go. "You're going to rip them tight jeans of yours and see shit you wish you could erase from your brain."

"Don't talk to me about tight pants when you're pants are so much tighter." I walked towards the truck and Dale was standing there with his bolt cutters.

"You be careful, alright?" he said. He hesitantly handed me his bolt cutters and leaned in to give me a quick hug.

"I promise I'll bring this back," I told him. He flashed me a small smile while I hopped into the back of the truck where Daryl was anxiously pacing back and forth.

"Your old man is worse than an actual old man," he said. Dale looked back at him and shook his head as he walked away. "Come on, brother! We ain't got all day."

I sat down in the passenger seat next to Glenn who looked like he was going to be sick. "Are you okay?" I put my hand on his knee and smiled at him. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah," he said quietly. He swallowed hard and continued to look straight ahead. Finally after Shane got his bitching and complaints out to my dad, he and a T-Dog both finally got in the truck. The ride over there took almost half an hour. Glenn drove the car near an abandoned rail road track and parked it.

"Where do we go to first, gun shop or Merle?" Glenn asked.

"Merle!" Daryl shouted right away. "We ain't discussing it."

"What do you think Glenn?" my dad asked. "You know this place the best."

"38th is five blocks further in than where we left Merle. We might as well go find him first." We followed Glenn who knew exactly where to go and managed to only come across a few walkers. They were slow enough to run away from so none of us bothered to kill them. I was so shocked at what happened to the city. Abandoned cars were all over the place, dead bodies were scattered around. It really was the end of the world.

We walked a few more blocks until we reached a department store. There were a few walkers that Daryl quickly killed with his arrows. We walked up a flight of stairs and when we reached the top where it was indeed chained shut from the outside. I handed my dad the bolt cutters and he used to open the door that Daryl kicked open and barged through.

"Merle! Where the hell are you, you bastard?" The roof was small and I saw no sign of Merle. He was clearly not up here anymore.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked Glenn. He nodded his head. Suddenly Daryl started yelling. We all ran towards where he was expecting to see Merle lying dead but it was almost an even worse sight. Lying there lifeless was a human hand. Glenn looked like he was about to be sick and looked away.

"Jesus Christ…" T-Dog muttered.

"You stupid bastard!" Daryl shouted. He had his crossbow pointed right at T-Dog. "This is your fault. Why don't you stand real close behind him, sheriff? Maybe I can get you both at once."

"Daryl, please stop," I begged. "This means he has to be alive, right?" I noticed there was another door behind him. "Look, another set of stairs. We can follow the blood drops. There's not much but maybe it'll lead us somewhere. Just don't do anything you'll regret."

"I won't regret killing this fool," he said. He stopped glaring at T-Dog to look at me. "I'll kill your daddy too if we don't find him."

"You're not killing anyone," I said. I took my gun out of my pocket and held it up at Daryl. "You kill either one of them and I won't hesitate to put a bullet in you." Daryl thought about it while he looked at everyone and lowered his crossbow finally.

"You got some balls, kid," he said. "Glad to see you ain't some little bitch."

"Watch your mouth when it comes to what you say about my kid."

"Calm down, sparky. I was complimenting her," Daryl said. He immediately started walking towards the other staircase. We all followed Daryl and ended up right where we started, no Merle in sight.

"What now?" Glenn asked.

"We're looking for my brother," Daryl growled. "I don't give a shit about ammo and guns. We're finding him."

"We're not splitting up," my dad said.

"Well I'll be here all night looking for him," Daryl said stubbornly. "Y'all can go get your ammo and shit. I'm not leaving without my brother."

"You need to think reasonably Daryl. We came here together and we're leaving together. We're not splitting up. How far do you think he got alone with a bleeding stump? You need to think about your safety, Daryl."

"Me and the girl here are going to double back then," Daryl said ignoring everything my dad just said. "We'll meet you at the gun shop."

"No, I'll go with you instead," Glenn said.

"I said the girl."

"You're not taking my daughter with you. You either stick with us or take Glenn."

"Let me go, dad." I obviously caught him off guard because he stared at me with wide eyes and shook his head. "Come on. It's Daryl. He's got the bow. It's way quieter than your guns."

"No!" he shouted. "I'm not letting you out of my sight Olivia. I allowed you to come with me but that's it. We are not splitting up."

"I'll go with them," Glenn piped up. "We're wasting time discussing this. She'll be fine Rick. We won't let anything happen to her. Right Daryl?" Daryl grumbled and nodded his head. "See? Come on. We'll meet you at the shop in ten minutes with no problems."

My dad was still hesitant but finally allowed it. "You have ten minutes." I nodded my head and he handed me the bolt cutters. "It's better than the gun. You watch yourself, okay? Whack anything that moves and use your gun if you absolutely need to." I nodded again and the three of us went in the opposite direction as my dad and T-Dog. We went through an alley way that was next to the building and saw no trace of Merle. We circled back around the department store and slowly made our way up the block.

"He's not here Daryl," Glenn said. We walked into another alley way to avoid a few walkers that were coming down towards us. "We need to just head to the gun shop. Maybe he went there."

"Merle knew nothing about this part of town. He ain't there."

"You never know," Glenn said. "This is getting ridiculous. More of those geeks are surrounding the area. We need to get out of here. You only have a few arrows, Liv only has those bolt cutters and her gun, we need to go find the others and get the hell out of here."

"I stuck a knife in your backpack," I said. "You might be able to stab something if you need to." I looked back and forth at the two of them while we were crotched down hiding behind a dumpster. "Glenn's right. If we walk around any longer we're just going to catch attention to ourselves. I'm sorry Daryl, but we need to go."

"Fine, I'll lead the way out of here," Daryl agreed. He pointed at Glenn, "You lead us to the shop and I'll be in the back." Daryl headed out of the alley way and looked around. He motioned for us to follow and Glenn started walking faster to walk ahead of us. We made it about a block away from the gun shop when I turned around to make sure everything was okay. Daryl was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit! Glenn stop," I shouted. I quickly put my mouth over my hand realizing I was speaking way too loud. "Glenn, we have to go back."

"What?" he asked. "Shit, why didn't he say anything?" Glenn and I both started running back half a block and we finally saw Daryl who was surrounded by three walkers. His back was towards us as he shot down one and started beating the other with his crossbow. He was completely unaware of the one that was walking towards him from behind. I ran as fast as I could as I hit it over its head with the bolt cutters. Daryl turned around quickly with a now loaded arrow pointed at my face. I kept whacking it on its head until it stopped moving. Glenn was busy with the third walker that Daryl hit once by stepping on its head crushing its skull.

"Took you long enough to realize I was gone," Daryl said.

I looked down at my clothes and realized they had a few blood stains on them. "I just ruined a perfectly nice outfit for you. You're welcome."

"I could have taken them all down," Daryl replied wiping his forehead with his hand. He started walking back towards the gun shop leaving Glenn and I behind to shake our heads. We were finally almost at the shop when I was completely knocked to the ground by something. I realized right away it was a walker. She was right on top of me and what little she had left of her mouth was inching closer to my face. I lost the bolt cutters when I was pushed down and was completely defenseless as I tried to push her off me. I was too afraid to even call out for the guys that I started hoping they would have heard the grunt I made when I fell.

I gave her one big push, which I thought I did alone, but realized she was being pulled off me by Daryl. He had the knife Glenn was using and rammed it into her head. Even after she stopped moving he continued to stab her head. I finally stood up and grabbed his arm.

"She's dead," I said. "Can we please go?"

"You got a little dirt on your face," he said. He started moving his hand towards my face but quickly refrained. "We're even now just so you know."

"Great, let me get my notebook to mark it down," I replied sarcastically.

"Olivia? Where have you guys been?" Of course the voice belonged to my dad and of course he was upset that it took us so long to get here. I saw his glare soften when he walked up to us and noticed the dead walker at our feet. "Are you okay?" he dropped the backpack on the ground and pulled me into a hug. "They didn't touch you did they? Or bite you or anything?" I saw the bolt cutters lying a few feet from where we were and picked them up.

"The stupid bitch knocked me over," I replied. "But she didn't bite or scratch." He rubbed my back and stopped hugging me. "I can see you got some supplies, can we go now?"

"Actually," he started. He rubbed his neck and looked at Daryl, "Merle's inside the gun shop." Daryl quickly ran off towards the gun shop before anyone could say anything. He looked at Glenn and me, "He's infected."

"What?" Glenn and I said at the same time.

"He's getting worse too," my dad said.

"We're not bringing him with us," Glenn said. "It's too risky. I don't care what Daryl says."

"Who's going to be the one to tell him that?" T-Dog asked. He picked up the bag my dad dropped and we started walking towards the gun shop. Daryl was crotched down talking to his brother and it completely broke my heart. He was the only family he had left. I wouldn't be able to put down Carl or my dad if they were in Merle's position. Since nobody bothered to make a move I walked closer to the two of them.

"Daryl…" He looked up at me and wiped his face. "He can't come with us." The old Merle I knew would have probably called me a bitch or something worse at what I was suggesting but he just looked up at his brother. "He's going to become one of those things."

Daryl stood up and looked right at me. He looked helpless and didn't know what to do. "I can't do it."

"Do you want me to do it?" I asked quietly.

"Do it," Merle said in a low voice. "I ain't turnin' into one of them things. I'd rather be fucked in the ass by that motherfucker that dropped the key than be one of them things." Daryl looked back at my dad and grabbed his gun he had with a silencer on it. He handed it to me and walked away from his brother.

"Liv, you don't have to do this," my dad said. He was standing right behind me with his hand gripping my shoulder while I held the gun in my hand. I didn't enjoy killing that walker back there but at least it was practically dead but this was still a human being. I cocked the gun and stuck it up to Merle's head.

"That bastard doesn't need to be watched over," Merle started, "But you need to… You're lucky he has…He's lucky he has someone like you around. You're not some bitch with a vagina. You got some balls."

I hesitated for a few seconds while I looked down at Merle. He was a dislikeable guy but right now I wanted to help him, tell him everything would be okay. I really wanted to bring him back with us because this was no way to die. I was glad that Daryl at least got to see his brother and wouldn't have to think about whether or not he was dead or alive for the rest of his life. I pulled the trigger and shut my eyes quickly afterwards. I turned my head away and back to the guys who were just standing there. Daryl had his back turned to us looking outside the door.

"Let's go back," my dad said breaking the long silence. Daryl held the door open while we all walked outside looking around for walkers. I was the last one out and was about to hand Daryl his gun back when he pulled me into an awkward hug. It was like he'd never really hugged anyone before and didn't know what to do. He pulled away quickly and grabbed his gun from me.

The walk back to the truck felt longer than the time it took us looking for Merle. Everyone was quiet as we got back in and started driving back. I sat in the back next to Daryl picking at a small stain of blood that was on my knee.

"I appreciate what you did," he whispered. I turned my head to look at him and shrugged my shoulders.

"I would hope someone would do the same for me," I said. "You're always talking about killing my dad so maybe it'll be easier for you."

"Are you alright though?" he asked. He cleared this throat and looked away. "I mean you're not going to cry about it or something?" I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't going to cry over killing Merle but I couldn't describe my feelings at the moment. I felt cold and empty for what I did but I tried thinking of it like putting down a sick dog. It would be the only way that I could ever really be "okay" for what I just did. "You had this blank stare so I just wanted to, you know…" he cleared this throat again and shrugged his shoulders, "You weren't going to turn into some killer now."

I shrugged again. "I just really need to get out of these clothes. I just can't get this smell out of my head."

"Maybe I'll take you up on your little adventure," he said. "Head out towards the coast." I think that was Daryl's way of lightening the mood and making a joke but it was like my brain didn't comprehend it. Shane was right. Everything I saw today was horrible and the only thing I wanted to do was go to sleep and pretend it was all just a bad dream.

The dream was only starting though. Once we got back to the camp, everything was eerily quiet and different. We noticed right away as soon as we got out of the car that there were dead bodies lying all over the place. This was not good.

"Carl!" I started screaming out. "Carl, where are you?" I started running towards the RV when I noticed Andrea crying over Amy's dead body. This was not looking good. "Carl!"


	5. CDC

**Thank you guys so much for your reviews and everything. I never thought anyone would like this that much so this is cool. (: By the way, I know it might be starting off slow or seem like it's going to go one way by the time you've read this chapter but I promise you there will be more Daryl/Liv or Shane/Liv depending what you guys are more into.  
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><p>The RV door opened and Carl ran out of it and into my arms. He was crying and I felt like I was going to start crying at any second. I squeezed him tightly and felt another pair of arms wrap around us; it was dad.<p>

He bent down to hold Carl in his arms. "I'm so sorry we left, Carl." Shane walked out of the RV and towards us. I saw his eyes looking at my clothes and then back up to my face. He looked genuinely concerned and upset. He walked around my dad and Carl but looked afraid to be so close to me. I reached out for his hand and held it in mine. I pulled him closer and squeezed him tight.

"What happened here Shane?" my dad questioned. He was standing now and looking and Shane and I. I let go of Shane and went to grab Carl and hold him.

"Some of them got up to the camp. It caught us off guard. We lost Amy, Jim, Ed and two others. The Morales' took their car and took off soon after."

"We need to leave this place," Glenn said. "If these came up here there has to be more of them in the woods."

"Where are we supposed to go?" Carl asked.

"Glenn's right," my dad said, "No matter how safe this placed used to be we can't risk staying here any longer. I say we head towards the C.D.C. and see what's going on. Someone there has to have answers for us. We can't live out here forever until helps comes; help may never come." Shane looked skeptical about the plan but kept his mouth shut.

"What happened in the city?" Shane asked. He was looking at me again and I averted my eyes. I was watching Daryl who was sitting five feet away with T-Dog glaring into the fire pit. "Why is she dirty?"

"I think she had a run in with a few walkers," my dad said.

"You think?" Shane questioned. "You split up?"

"Daryl wanted to look for Merle and we found him," Glenn said. He looked hesitant as he spoke. "He's dead now."

"I want to change," I said quietly.

"We all need to stay here," Shane said. "The tents are too far to walk to alone now."

"I don't care who comes. I want to change."

"Shane, just take her," my dad said. He looked at me as if asking if that was okay and I started walking towards the tents with Shane following. I walked into the tent and took off my shirt, dropping it on the ground. Instead of looking for a clean shirt to wear I grabbed one of the blankets and wrapped it around myself. I lay down and wondered how long it would take for Shane to realize I wasn't leaving anytime soon.

I lay there thinking about the day and everything that was happening. I hated how this was happening. If there really was a God out there how could he be so cruel and sadistic to let this happen to us? There were easier ways to kill off an entire race than to have us suffer through this.

"Are you almost done?" I stood quiet and just hoped Shane would leave and let me stay in here by myself for the rest of the day. "Olivia, are you okay?" He opened the flap and walked into the tent. "I'm guessing you weren't planning on changing."

"I was," I muttered, "But lying down is better than seeing all those dead bodies out there."

"Am I that horrible to look at that you won't even talk to me face to face?"

"That's a good way of putting it."

"Olivia," he walked closer to me and I assumed he was sitting down since I felt his hand on my leg, "What did I do to make you hate me so much all of a sudden?" I finally sat up and turned around so I was looking at him. I wrapped the blanket tighter staring at the ground with little emotion. "What happened out there? I can deal with bitchy Olivia but not this one. I told you not to go. Nothing bit you, did it?" I shook my head.

"I killed one of those things," I said quietly. I finally looked him in the eyes but averted my gaze quickly. "And I killed Merle."

"You did what?" His hand was quick to reach for my arm but he pulled it back right away.

"Dad found him in the gun shop. I guess he made it there and… When we met up with them Daryl couldn't do it so I volunteered. I thought it would be easier killing someone but it's not. He was probably going to turn into one of those things and it was the humane thing to do but I can't stop thinking about it." I felt sick to my stomach and felt my eyes burn but no tears fell.

"You did what you had to do," Shane said. He slowly grabbed my hand and when I didn't pull it back he started massaging it with his thumb. "This doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you one of the strong ones. Do not beat yourself up over this. If Daryl doesn't care what you did then you need to stop beating yourself up about it. You gotta turn off that switch; the one that makes you scared, angry, whatever."

"Have you ever killed anyone? Before all this started."

"I've killed two people. One of them was the man that shot your dad."

"How were you after you did it?" I asked.

He shrugged, "I felt like shit the first time. I always told myself I'd rather they be dead then me. There ain't nothin' easy about taking another person's life. But when you do it, you have to forget it."

"I can't forget that. It's like it's permanently etched in my brain." I sandwiched Shane's hands in between mine. "Why did you tell everyone what I told you secretly? That was a dick move."

"So is sneaking in and out of Daryl's tent all the time."

"I'm not sneaking in anywhere," I said offended. "Why do you keep thinking I'm doing something with Daryl when I'm not?"

"You sure seem like you two are doing something more then you claim you are."

"Then why were you having sex with me?" I asked. "You called Daryl and Merle walking STDs once. Or did you just ignore that just to get your dick wet?"

"I believed you before," he said. "But these last few days made me rethink that. I believe you now though. I just…well with your past and all I was just hesitant to believe you."

I let go of his hand and pulled the blanket tight again. "Oh, you believe me _now_? That's nice to know. And you do not know shit about my past. It was a one sided story you always heard. Get out Shane."

"I'm not leaving you alone out here," he said.

"Then go outside. I'm sick of looking at your face. You're a piece of shit."

"What's your big problem with me? It's not just what I told you. You've been cold since…Rick came back."

"Congratulations," I replied. "I'm glad to see your brain is still working."

"You think I lied to you? He was dead Liv. You saw him two hours earlier. He was hooked up to the machines and they just went out. What was I supposed to do? Drag his dead body with me and risk getting us both killed?"

"You lied. How could he be dead if he's right out there?"

"He was dead Olivia. Why would I lie to you? You refused to leave his bedside. I know how much this hurt you. I couldn't bring myself to tell you that he was dead. He's my best friend, why would I leave him there all alone?"

"He's not dead! He never was! You were planning this all along; to get me and Carl away from him. Was that your plan? Did you do that just so I can call you my hero, fuck you all the time and live like a bunch of jungle freaks until this shit storm blew over?"

"No!" he said loudly. "How could you say that? I've always loved you and Carl. I have no one else so why wouldn't I want to help out?"

"We don't need your help," I said angrily. I turned away from him to start looking for a clean shirt. If he wasn't going to leave then I will. I found one, dropped the blanket and put it on. "Your love is disturbing by the way. Did you always want to get into my pants or is this just a middle age crisis thing?" I stood up and left the tent quickly. If that conversation didn't end up as badly as it did I would have probably ended up having sex with Shane again. I was glad I had enough self-control to know that what happened between us wasn't ever right; it happened one time too many and it was over for good.

I saw some of the guys were putting the dead walkers into the fire they built. My dad and Carl were still sitting where I left them.

"We're leaving in the morning," my dad said. "We're heading out to the C.D.C."

"So it's really happening?" I asked. He nodded his head. "Did you tell everyone?"

"Yeah. Most of them are looking forward to leaving here so anywhere sounds good I guess. They're all just not so sure it's the best plan. It's driving back in the opposite direction towards home and we all know how bad that was."

"Were you always planning on heading there?" I asked. I sat down across from him.

"Yeah, I figured it was better than driving around or sitting around waiting for help. Shane kept everyone safe for a while but I need to continue to do that. We're sitting ducks here. It's not safe."

"I agree."

"What the hell is the point of going to the C.D.C?" Daryl asked. "Those douche bags don't have a cure. If they did I wouldn't have made her kill my brother."

"It's better than here," Dale said. "They're better protected then us. They have steel doors that are probably sealed shut and those things won't ever come in. It's the best choice."

"Is it really?" Daryl asked. "We don't know what's up ahead. What if it's overrun or nobody lets us in? Are we just going to keep driving?"

"We need to bury our people and get out of here," my dad said. "I don't know what other choice we have. It might not even be a great choice, you're right, but what other option do we have? You're right Daryl, we can't keep driving because we don't know where it's safe but I think this is our best option."

"So are we going to bury these people now or continue to disagree how much of a good or bad idea this is?" Glenn asked. He was clearly upset about what happened here but there was nothing none of us could do. Glenn and I both went over to Andrea to try to help her stand up from Amy's dead body. T-Dog drove the four bodies towards away from the camp where there were already four holes dug into the ground.

"What's with the holes?" I asked. I didn't think the guys could have dug all these holes in the time we've been back.

"Jim did those when y'all left," Jacqui said.

"Was he a psychic or something?" Glenn questioned. "That's really creepy."

"We stopped him before he dug anymore," she said. "We still don't know what he was thinking when he did that." The guys started putting the bodies in separate graves and nobody said anything. Andrea left quickly after Amy was buried and Dale went after her.

"Is she going to sulk the entire time?" Daryl asked me. We were walking back towards the camp now and everyone was starting to pack up their things.

"Everyone grieves in their own way," I told him. I put my hand on his back for a few seconds. "Are you okay though?"

"You think there is anyone at that place?" he asked avoiding my question. "I'm putting all my trust in your old man and hoping the s.o.b. knows what he's doing."

"Who knows? Hopefully there's someone there."

"So… do you need help packing up your stuff?" he asked.

"There's not much to help with. I'll just shove everything back in my bag and I'm good to go. What about you?"

"Everything's in my truck."

"Can I drive with you down there?" I asked. "I mean I could just drive in the RV but…"

"Whatever. Since when are you at odds with Shane? Thought y'all were buds."

"Not really. He's just my dad's friend. He was just trying to keep Carl and me safe. He's a prick."

"No shit," Daryl said with a small chuckle.

"You don't like him much, huh?"

"I didn't care for him until he started shit talking Merle. Also that weird thing between y'all the other day; I wouldn't want him touching me either." I laughed out loud. We reached where the tents were all pitched and Daryl started taking his down. "You think I should take it with me or leave it here?"

"Take it. You never know if it might come in handy."

"I'll be glad to not sleep in that again. I'm sleeping in my truck tonight."

"You are such a baby. Sleeping in the tent wasn't that bad. Even if you don't get much sleep in your truck tonight, your ass is going to hurt after a while."

"Oh I'm going to sleep tonight," Daryl said, "You're staying up and keeping watch. I have a feeling you're going to be boring company tomorrow and fall asleep on me."

"I probably will."

Most of the camp was packed up in the middle of the night. Nobody slept at all. Around 5AM we the decided to head out. Glenn had his eyes glued to the map all night finding the route to the C.D.C. and the most direct route was the one we were taking. We were all hoping the freeway wasn't blocked by abandoned cars or worse, walkers.

My dad was hesitant allowing me to be away from him again to let me drive with Daryl but he didn't want to start an argument on something to petty in front of everyone. He was already upset because he kept having disagreements with Shane and the two of them were finally both avoiding each other. I liked it better this way. Maybe Shane would see he wasn't needed as much as he thinks he is in our family.

"I told you no falling asleep," Daryl said. I felt a hard whack on my thigh which caused me to open my eyes.

"I was just blinking. I like to keep my eyes closed longer than most people."

"You sure love telling stories, don't you?"

"You mean ridiculously amazing lies?" I asked. I looked over at Daryl who was shaking his head at me.

"I don't get how you lasted a second in your home with your dad being who he is. You come off as a wild canon growing up."

"He's not a bad dad, he's just a better employee, if that makes any sense. He was better before my mom died…" I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue this conversation. Daryl didn't seem the type to want to hear about my life story. He always avoided the group when we were all together eating and talking.

"I see you ignored my wild canon comment," he said. He took his eyes off the road to look over at me.

"I was a good kid until about 16 if you must know."

"Go on."

"There's nothing much to talk about. I experimented with a lot of things, lied all the time and on top of that still managed to graduate high school. I took speed three times my senior year so I could stay up all night to do my homework. I so desperately wanted to get to a good college away from my family."

"Shit, girl." Daryl let out a big laugh. "I knew there was some interesting kind of story to hear."

"I'm not a very good person," I said.

"That's bullshit; I think you are. You have a brother who worships the ground you walk on and your old man loves you. I see the way he looks at you. The only good thing about this shit we're going through is that we can all start over. Not be judged by all the shit we've done and been through."

"You make it sound so simple," I replied. "All the bad memories are still with us even if nobody else knows."

"Time to start making new ones. Or at least stop moping about your past. And for you to say you couldn't wait to get away from your family, you sure aren't acting like you hate them."

"I never hated them," I said. "I never got along with my dad the last three years; same with my mom. They always blamed their problems on me. Or at least it seemed like that to me." I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry. I'll shut up now."

"Good because it looks like we're almost there," Daryl replied. We both looked ahead and saw the large C.D.C. building. There weren't any walkers around but there was hundreds of dead bodies lying all over the streets. There were army tanks that were completely abandoned with military people hanging out of them. It was one of the most grotesque scenes I've ever seen. Daryl and I both grabbed our bag and weapons and walked out towards the rest of the group.

"We need to get there quick before any walkers show up," my dad said. "Stay close and keep up." I grabbed Carl's hand and held it tight as we all walked towards the building. My dad and Shane both started trying to lift the doors that were obviously sealed shut.

"Someone has to be in there," I said, "The doors are shut."

"No one's in there," Andrea said. "This was such a waste of time."

"Dad there's walkers," Carl said. My dad quickly started banging on the door and yelling for someone to let us in.

"This is pointless," Shane called out. "We need to get out of here before more come."

I didn't know what I was expecting coming here but this sure wasn't it. People had to be in there and they had to see us. They can't just let us all die out here. Carl started pulling my hand wanting to leave but I stood my ground looking up and around for a way in.

"That camera just moved," I said. "Dad! That camera moved. There's someone in there." My dad quickly walked to where I was standing and looked up.

"It's nothing," Shane said. "We need to get out of here. Rick, you can't believe that thing moved." My dad wasn't listening to Shane. He was still looking up at the camera and at that moment he saw it move.

"It moved," he said. He started yelling at the camera for someone to let us in. "You have to let us in! Please have a heart. We have children. You can't let us die out here, man."

"Rick!" Shane called out. "We need to get out of here now." The camera moved once again and it looked like it was looking right at me. Shane was about to grab Carl's other hand when the door actually opened. We all stood there staring at the opened door as if we imagined it.

"Get in," the man said. Everyone started running inside and the doors were immediately shut behind us before the walkers that were roaming around had a chance to get close to us. "Those doors are staying shut. Do you all understand that?"

"Yes," my dad said. "We all really appreciate it man. Thank you."

"None of you are infected?" the man asked.

"No," my dad answered. "But we're looking for answers man."

"I want to test your blood," he said. "I can't just take your word for it."

"Maybe you can provide us with something to eat?" Dale asked. "We haven't eaten in a while."

"Fine, but after I take your blood," he said. He started walking away and then turned to look at us. "I'm Edwin Jenner. You can call me Jenner."

"Are you the only one here?" Dale asked. "Where is everyone at?"

"Dead most likely," he replied casually as he started walking away from us.

"What a dildo," I said. "How do we even know he's legit? He seems like a crack pot." The group slowly started following Jenner towards the back where he was.

"How do you know what infected blood looks like?" Andrea asked. "Are you trying to find a cure?"

"I was," Jenner replied, he was done taking Andrea's blood and motioned for me to come to him. "I had a fresh sample a few days ago but it was destroyed. I don't have anything much to study anymore." He grabbed a fresh needle and was about to bring it towards my arm when he actually looked up at me; unlike everyone else whom he completely didn't bother looking in the face. "You're… Layla right? Or Lila? No, that's not right…"

I stared at him confused and pulled my arm back. "It's Liv."

"Olivia, right!" he said. He flashed a tired smile at me which caused me to completely back away from him.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"No need to be afraid," Jenner said. He motioned for me to give him my arm but I didn't. "You were Dean's girlfriend, weren't you?" I had almost completely forgotten about Dean. Some girlfriend I was.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"You two were together, weren't you? I'm married to his mother… Well, I was. I'm pretty sure you came by our home once years ago." By this point almost the entire group was listening in and my dad was standing right behind me.

"Is he here?" I asked. Jenner shook his head and I ended up giving him my arm. He was starting to take my blood now and I just watched it. "Have you heard from him?"

"No, I haven't. He hasn't been around since he graduated high school," Jenner said. He took the needle out and put my blood with everyone else's. "I tried getting ahold of him when his mother was infected but he never answered. I spoke to his father though; said something about being different for the last few weeks."

"Oh…" This "different" Jenner was talking about probably had to do with me. I completely ignored Dean the last few weeks before people were starting to get infected. I spent my free time staring at my comatose father and ignoring the only boyfriend I actually cared and loved.

"I'm sure he's fine," Jenner said reassuringly. "I figured he'd be with you guys. I recognized you right away outside."

"So you only let us in because you know my daughter?" Jenner looked up at my dad and smiled again.

"So you said you were hungry," Jenner said. "There's plenty of food since it's only been me here."

"You got any booze?" Daryl questioned.

"Plenty," Jenner said. "Just drop your stuff here and you can get it later." At the mention of food everyone's moods finally lightened. They were all happy to be eating actual food and not canned food anymore. Everyone was sitting around the three tables that were pushed together while Glenn and I sat on the counter behind them.

"So that's Dean's step-dad," Glenn said, "Small world, isn't it? Or fate or something?"

"I don't know about that. It's so weird though. Do you think he's okay?"

"No offence," Glenn started and took a swig from the bottle of wine he was holding, "But Dean was kind of a dumbass." I let out a big laugh. "So if you want my opinion, I doubt it."

"Good to see you have so much faith in him," I replied. I grabbed the bottle of wine and took a big mouthful. "Ugh this tastes like shit."

"Who said you could drink wine?" my dad asked. "I could have sworn you are 19."

"If I remember correctly, I think next week I will be 20. That's just one year short. And I could have sworn the drinking rules are non-existent since the world is over."

"Can I have some?" Sophia asked. I looked at Carol who was just smiling. I jumped down from my position and poured a little in her glass.

"What about you Carl?" I asked. I wiggled my eyebrows at him and he held his cup up. "Atta boy." I poured him a little and went back to sit next to Glenn who grabbed the bottle. Both Carl and Sophia had the same opinion as me and disliked the taste immediately. "Do you have anything stronger Jenner?" My dad looked back at me with a shocked expression on his face which caused me to smile at him.

Jenner held up the bottle of whiskey he had in front of him and I jumped up quickly to grab it.

"Do not overdue it Olivia," my dad said.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said as I took a sip from the bottle. I made a face as it went down my throat. I hadn't had alcohol in so long I almost forgot how strong it was. Daryl was eager to get that bottle in his possession so I just gave it to him. I was done with alcohol for tonight. I just wanted to stuff myself with food until I felt like an overweight hippo.

After we ate Jenner started showing us around the place and where the rooms were located. The group was even happier that they were finally able to get a decent night's sleep tonight without worrying about being attacked in the middle of the night.

"There are also showers in all the rooms," Jenner mentioned, "But keep them short to spare the hot water." Glenn and I who were both at the front of the group turned to look at each other and grinned widely.

"Did I hear hot water correctly?" Glenn asked.

"Yes you did," I answered. We both started running towards the rooms. We picked rooms next to each other and I ran into the bathroom. It was so good to finally see a real bathroom again. I completely ignored Jenner's comment and took the longest shower of my life. I washed my hair at least six times and scrubbed my body until it was red. I wanted to wipe everything off; the blood, the dirt, the sweat, all of it.

After what felt like an eternity and a few bangs on the door from Carl I finally stopped the water. I wrapped a towel around myself tightly and walked out of the bathroom. I was expecting just Carl and my dad to be in the room but I was not expecting Shane to be there.

"Dad, there's only one bed and a couch and I am not sharing." I hoped he would get the message and tell Shane to leave. I was not sharing a room with him. I'd rather sleep outside with the dead. "By the way Carl just totally ran in the bathroom and I have nowhere to change so y'all need to leave." I pulled the towel tighter and glared at Shane.

They both left and I started looking for something to wear. I was ready to go to sleep even though it was still really early. I found at the bottom of my bag the shirt I usually slept with, pulled that on and leggings. I dove on the bed right away and took up all the space. I knew that I was going to be told to move soon by my dad or share with Carl, but I wanted to take a nap. I closed my eyes and tried dozing off when Carl jumped right on top of me.

"Carl, get off!"

"No, this is so much more comfy than the sleep bag," he said. "You're squishy."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Do you want me to call you big boned?" Carl asked. He poked my back and laughed. "You're not really bony, just squishy actually." I sat up causing Carl to fall off me and almost off the bed.

"Shut up Carl." I started tickling him which made him mad and he started screaming for dad who practically ran in the room.

"Get off him Liv."

"He called me fat," I said as I went back on the bed and sat down.

"It must be all those fishes you caught and ate," he said. He and Carl both laughed while I sat there scowling at them. "Or the candy."

"Jenner said there were board games," Carl said, "Want to play with me and Sophia?"

"Are you two going to team up on me and cry when I beat you?" I asked.

"You're going to be the one crying," Carl replied.

"Fine, but I'm telling Glenn to come because I'm going to feel like I'm babysitting," I said as I jumped up and walked to the next room. I didn't even bother knocking on the door and invited myself in. "Glenn, hurry your pizza delivery ass up and come play with me."

Glenn walked out of the bathroom with sweatpants on and a towel slung over his shoulders. "Play what? Thought Jenner said not to play the video games because it sucks energy."

"Put a shirt on and come with," I said. "Carl said there's a shitload of board games. We'll pretend we're a normal family, argue, yell, and cheat." Glenn grabbed a shirt and we both walked towards the end of the hall where we passed the game room earlier. Carol, Sophia, and Carl were already in there and Carl was looking through the games.

"Sophia and I are going to play checkers," Carl announced.

"What about Glenn and me?" I asked pretending my feelings were hurt.

"You can play chess," Sophia said which made me whack Glenn in his chest and laugh. "I don't get it."

"Would Jenner seriously care if we play video games?" I asked. "I mean he must be bored as fuck being here by himself with literally nobody to talk to."

"You two can always read a book," Carol suggested which caused Glenn and I to both laugh out loud at the same time. "When was the last time you read a book?"

"Voluntary?" I asked causing Carol to shake her head. "Probably sixth grade. And it had pictures."

"I read the newspaper sometimes," Glenn said. "I never was a big fan of books. I didn't even by textbooks for college."

"I thought you said you couldn't afford it."

"Yeah but I could have borrowed it from someone. I just choose not to."

"You two are missing out on so much," Carol said staring at the two of us like we were literally the biggest idiots she's ever met. "Even if we don't stay here long I'm thinking of taking a few with me."

"Well maybe I will start reading again," Glenn said. He started looking at the bookshelf and started looking at the books. "These are kinda big." He put the one he was looking at back and turned around. "I give up."

"I'm going to sleep," I said to no one in particular. "I need knock out for 48 hours straight."

"Me too," Glenn said.

"You two are so boring," Carl said.

"And I forgot you existed," I told him.

"Is that any way to talk to your brother?" Shane asked. He was leaning on the door frame and I wondered how long he had been standing there creepily. I ignored him completely and wished there was another exit that would lead back to the rooms.

I started walking by the door and noticed Shane was completed loaded. I really wanted to get out of here now. I've never seen him drunk but I had a feeling he wasn't the shy type when he was drunk. I walked away from him quickly and started walking down the hall.

"Want to go bother Daryl?" I asked as I turned around to look at Glenn.

"He doesn't like me that much."

"He's just shy," I said laughing. "Come on. He's actually really great." Glenn rolled his eyes at my comment. Maybe I was stretching the truth again; just a little. I started walking by the rooms not sure where Daryl was but I peeked in one of the last ones and noticed he was completely passed out of the bed. "Okay then. New plan."

"I'm going to get more alcohol," Glenn said, "And crawl into bed cuddling the bottle."

"You have some serious issues." Glenn started walking towards the kitchen while I ended up walking back towards my room. I really hadn't spent any "bonding" time with my dad since he found us and decided now was better than nothing.

"Hello old man." He looked up for a piece of a paper he was reading. I sat down next to him on the couch.

"That was quick," he said. "Did you get bored already? You never lasted long when we used to play board games."

"Carl decided to ditch me to play with his girlfriend." My dad's eyebrows went up and we both laughed. "And Carol was reading and Glenn decided to drink by himself."

"I'm glad you decided not to join in," he said. He put down the paper and turned his body to me. "Thank you for taking care of Carl. I know it wasn't exactly your plan and…" I stopped him by putting my hand on his knee.

"Dad, don't sweat it. I love Carl. I'm… I shouldn't have said those things to you that day." I bit the insides of my cheeks and looked away. "I'm…"

"It's okay," he told me. He reached for my hand and held it. "I forgive you. I love you Olivia. You're my baby girl and I know we don't always agree on things but no matter what I'll always love you."

"Don't get all girly on me dad."

"This is the most we've talked in a long time," he replied. "I can't imagine what you've been through but you're so brave. Just promise me you won't do anything reckless anymore. We're not going to split up anymore, do you understand?"

"Well…"

"No, Olivia, you need to stop being so stubborn. I don't care how safe you might feel with someone else in the group but you aren't leaving my sight again. If I lost you or Carl, I really don't know what I would do with myself. I fought my way through hell because I knew I would find you two again. Without you, there is no way I'd keep fighting."

"Ugh, Dad, stop." He leaned in and clutched me close to him. I hugged him back and was about to try to escape his tight grip when I noticed Shane standing at the doorway. He was really starting to creep me out. I moved my lips close to my dad and whispered to him, "Promise me you'll never leave me either. And that you'll never let anything bad happen."

He pulled away and looked at me with that fatherly concern. "I won't let anything happen to you." He kissed my forehead and leaned back. I looked at Shane one last time before he turned to leave and back at my dad. I really wanted to tell him everything that happened but I couldn't bring myself to do it right now.

"I'm going to bed," I told him. He nodded his head and stood up from the couch.

"I'll go get Carl and tell him to go to bed soon," he said. He started walking towards the door when I realized that meant I was going to be by myself.

"You said you wouldn't leave me." He turned around and chuckled.

"I'll be right back." He walked out of the room and I didn't like being alone in this weird room by myself. I left the room and walked into Glenn's. He was sitting on his bed suckling the wine bottle.

"Move over bud," I told him. Glenn had a twin bed which was perfect for him but unfortunate for him at the moment I didn't want to sleep by myself. Glenn put the bottle down and looked at me.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Where am I supposed to sleep?" I crawled into the bed and lay down as close to the edge as I could. "Okay, but if I push you in the middle of the night you asked for it." He hiccupped a few times and went to shut off the lights. He crawled into the bed and got really close to me. "This is weirder than the tent. Did your dad kick you out of the room or something?"

"No he left and I didn't want to be alone," I told him. Glenn moved around in the bed a little and I almost fell off.

"You're such a girl," Glenn said. He moved once more and finally found a comfortable position as we both finally drifted off to sleep.


	6. Too Close for Comfort

I woke up and looked at my watch. It was 3 in the afternoon and noticed Glenn was still sleeping. I nudged him and sat up. He was still in the same position he fell asleep last night so I poked his side. "Wake up Glenn." He muttered in his sleep and I shook him. "Come on. Let's get some food in your system."

Glenn moved and when he sat up he put his hands to his head. He groaned loudly. "I'm never drinking again."

I laughed at got out of bed. I walked to Glenn's side and pulled him by his hand. "Come on. We'll get some food and then go back to sleep. I'm still tired."

He yawned loudly and finally stood up. "What time is it?"

"After 3," I told him. We both started walking towards the kitchen and it was empty. Glenn sat down at the table and put his head down, groaning again. I found a loaf of bread lying on a counter. "Want a sandwich or just bread?" Glenn mumbled and I ended up just bringing the bread to the table.

I started eating a slice and kicked Glenn with my foot. "Come on Glenn. Eat some bread."

"Are you kids just getting up?" Dale asked as he entered the kitchen. I nodded my head and Glenn finally sat up to eat a slice of bread. "Do you want me to make you guys something? It's not exactly breakfast time anymore but I could make you some eggs."

"I'm good with just this. Thanks Dale."

"I can't even chew," Glenn said.

"Shut up Glenn. You're not that hung over."

"Rick's been looking for you Olivia," Shane said as he walked in. I scoffed and started chewing another piece of bread. Dale looked over at Shane and then at me. I glared at the piece of bread I was chewing. Shane came over and sat across from me.

"Well I'm going back to bed," I said. I grabbed another piece of bread and starting walking out of the kitchen. I was able to avoid another person as I went back into Glenn's room. I shut the door, threw the bread on small table and went back to bed.

We had now been at the C.D.C. for three days and my dad had been getting restless. The time I actually spent awake and not avoiding Shane, I saw him trying to press Jenner for answers but Jenner hadn't said a word.

"Are you finally well rested?" my dad asked me.

"I could do with another few hours of sleep," I joked. My dad however wasn't amused. "I'm kidding. What is it?"

"Jenner seems to be a little more open with you. I was thinking maybe you could ask him what he knows about all of this. Or at least try to butter him up."

"Butter him up?" I repeated. "Dad, I barely remember the man. Apparently I went to his house a few years ago but to be honest I don't even remember half of my teenage years."

He sighed loudly and crossed his arms over his chest, "Can you at least try? While you've spent the last few days passed out I've been trying to get through to him but he hasn't said anything."

"Fine." I huffed loudly as I started walking towards where Jenner's work area was at. He was staring at a black computer screen and I cleared my throat. "Hi there." He turned around in his chair and flashed a tired smile.

"Nice to see you." I leaned on his table and looked down at him.

"I'm not going to beat around the bushes but what the fuck is going on?" He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples.

"I'm guessing your father put you up to this," Jenner said. I nodded my head and Jenner opened his eyes and let out a long breathe. "I guess I might as well tell you all what's going on."

"That would be nice," I told him. He leaned over towards a microphone and spoke it to it calling everyone towards his work station. I looked up at the clock that was ticking behind us. "It's one o'clock already?" I looked down at my watch and it said it was almost 12 in the afternoon. I shook my watch as the entire group started walking in the room.

"There's nothing wrong with your watch," Jenner told me. I stared at him weirdly but didn't think much of it.

"Are you finally going to tell us what's going on?" Jacqui asked.

"If all it took was that girl to get it out of you we should have woken her lazy ass up days ago," Daryl said.

"He still hasn't told me anything," I told him while making a face at him. "And if I saw correctly you were passed out for a while too."

"Vi, show me TS-19," Jenner called out. On the large screen in front all of us showed what looked like an MRI. It showed a human brain. And if I remember correctly from what I've seen on TV it was a functioning normal brain, lite up and all. Everyone stared at it mesmerized and unsure of exactly what they were looking at.

"What exactly is that?" T-Dog asked.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories. In all those ripples of lights it's you; the thing that makes _you_ unique. It's everything a person does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death." He was staring up intently at the screen and took a shaky breath. Nobody bothered to notice how upset he looked.

"Why are we watching this?" Shane asked. "Is this supposed to show us what is happening out there?"

"It's a playback of someone that was infected," Jenner said. Andrea was standing next to me getting completely emotional.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"Test subject 19. She volunteered to have us record everything she went through after she was bitten. Vi, go to the first event." The brain scan showed the woman looked like she was struggling with breathing or having some sort of seizure. The lights weren't a bright blue but it was mixed darker colors; like something horrible was eating away at the brain. Everyone stared up with disbelief as they watched the brain go dead. "It attacks the brain, the adrenal glands hemorrhage, your brain shuts down and then your major organs." He looked up at the woman admiringly and looked back then. "Then death occurs. The person you were or the person you might have been, all gone."

"Is that going to happen to us?" Carl asked. Jacqui who was closest to him grabbed him by his hand and squeezed it.

"Vi, show us the second event. The resurrection times seems to vary. It can take as little as three minutes to eight hours. TS-19 was two hours, one minute, seven seconds." I was looking at Jenner more closely now. This woman he was showing us had to be his wife. There was no doubting it with the amount of pain and hurt that was all over his face. We all looked up at the screen that was now showing the brain looking like it was turning back on.

"It restarts your brain?" Carol asked.

"No, just the brain stem. It makes them able to stand and walk."

"Are they alive?" my dad questioned.

"You tell me," Jenner said. "The frontal part of the brain, the part that makes you _you_ isn't lite up." He shrugged his shoulders while everyone continued to watch. A quick line went through the skull that if we were blinking we would have missed it.

"What was that?" Jacqui asked.

"He shot her in the head," I said. I looked at Jenner who broke his eye contact with me quickly.

"Shut everything down, Vi."

"You don't even know what this is, do you?" Shane asked.

"It could be anything; viral, parasitic, some twisted joke being played by God."

"So if you can't help us, then who can?" Andrea asked. "There has to be other places, right? You can't be the only person working in a place like this around here."

"I lost communication over a month ago with anyone outside this facility," Jenner said.

"Are you saying this isn't just happening here?" Dale asked. "This is happening everywhere?"

"Most likely," Jenner said. The entire group broke out muttering different curse words. Everyone was in disbelief.

"I need to get shit faced again," Daryl muttered as he turned away shaking his head. "This is bullshit." I looked over at the clock now and the numbers looked lower than the last time I saw them.

"Wait a second, why is that clock counting down?" I asked. Everyone now looked at the clock and back at Jenner.

"We run out of fuel to run this place," he said.

"And then what?" my dad questioned. "We're just going to be stuck in the dark or something?" Jenner started walking away from the group and up to his office.

"We're going to go down to check out how much fuel is left," my dad said. "Liv, take Carl with you. Shane, T-Dog and Glenn, y'all come with me." The four of them headed out and the rest of the group started leaving the room to most likely go back to their own rooms.

"Carl, come with me," I said as I held his hand and went towards Jenner's office. He wasn't going to ignore the questions anymore. I was going to find a way to get it out of him. We reached his office and I told Carl to wait outside for me. I opened the office door and shut it behind me. "What really happens when the clock reaches zero?"

Jenner was sitting at his desk looking at a picture frame. I walked closer and took it out of his hand. It was a picture of his wife. I remembered her now and Jenner. It was starting to come back now. I remember how upset Dean was when he was in high school and had to go back and forth between his parents. He never liked Jenner and whenever he was forced to spend the weekends at the Jenner household he always wanted me to come.

"Well?" I asked again. "What's going to happen? Are you going to force us to leave if there's nothing running this building?"

"The building is going to be decontaminated," he said. "H.I.T.s are going to deploy."

"Excuse me for not taking chemistry or being a rocket scientist but what the hell are you talking about?"

"Think about it Olivia. Do you know what this place is? Do you know the stuff we work with every day? The stuff we keep safe from the public?"

"Decontaminating… Are you…"I could finish my sentence. It what he was insinuating was true it sounded like he was going to burn the place down or something. "What are you talking about Jenner?"

"H.I.T.s is high impulse thermobaric fuel air explosives. It has a blast wave-"

"What the fuck is your problem?" I screamed at him. I put my hand over my mouth and felt sick to my stomach. "You're going to kill us?" I was so upset that I could probably stab Jenner but he was our only way out.

"Clock's running down," Jenner said. It was like he really didn't care about any of us. He let us in to this death trap but I wouldn't allow us to blow up with him. I ran out of his office and grabbed Carl.

"Run Carl," I shouted back at him. His legs were shorter than mine so he wasn't running as fast as I was. "Hurry up Carl!" I pulled his hand so we wouldn't get separated. I had to find everyone and get us the hell out of here. "Dad!"

I ran towards the way I saw the four guys walk earlier and hoped they would come up soon. I was about to run down a flight of stairs when I saw Glenn and Shane walking up the stairwell.

"The fuel is down to E," Glenn said. "We're going to be in the dark soon."

"Where's my dad?" I asked.

"I'm right here," he said. He was right behind T-Dog and looked worried and anxious. "What's wrong?"

"He's going to blow this place up, Dad. We need to get out of here now!"

"He's what?" Shane shouted. "He told you this?"

"He said this place is going to have some huge fucking explosion and he was talking about air explosives or some shit. Can we please leave?" Carl was practically in tears when he heard everything I just said.

"I need to talk to him," my dad said. "Tell everyone and get your stuff, okay?"

"No, don't leave dad," I was practically begging him, "Leave with us."

"He needs to open the door," my dad explained. "He can't do this to us. If this is true he has to let us out."

"We're wasting time," Glenn said. "If we're going to blow up I do not want to be anywhere near this place."

"Like I said, get your stuff and meet me in the front. Shane, make sure she listens to me." He started walking towards the main room where Jenner was. Glenn started tugging me by my arm while T-Dog and Shane went running ahead of us to warn everyone else. We reached our room and quickly grabbed everything. Everyone wasn't sure what was going on but Shane made sure everyone followed him out towards the lobby we came in.

"What is going on?" Dale questioned.

"Jenner told me this place is going to blow up when the clock reaches zero. He's sick if he thinks this is the solution from escaping the walkers," I told them. "We need to get out of here."

"Where's your dad?" Daryl questioned.

"Trying to convince Jenner to open those doors. We can't just stand here and not do anything. We need to get the hell out of here." Daryl went towards the window and started hitting it with an axe. He made no dent on the window. I completely forgot what the time was on the counter when I last saw it. I knew it had to be less than half an hour by now. "He should be out by now." I started running back towards the main room and Shane was yelling for me to stop. I ran and found myself stopped by a large door blocking what I thought was the entrance to the room. Did I take a wrong turn?

I kicked the door and banged on it. "Dad? Are you in there?" I put my ear to the door and heard nothing. I banged on it again. This had to be it. Did Jenner lock him in there? "Jenner, open the goddamn door!"

"What's going on?" Shane questioned. He looked at the door and back at me. "He's in there, isn't he?"

"We're not leaving him," I said. I started crying as I continued kicking the door that wouldn't budge in any way. "We can't leave him." Most of the group started making their way towards us.

"What's going on?" Dale questioned. "Where's Rick?"

"He has to be in there." I told them. "I'm not leaving him." Daryl walked to the front where Shane and I were standing and pulled me out of the way. He started hitting the door with his axe and it had the same effect as when he tried it with the window.

"We need to get out of here," Shane said.

"I'm not leaving! What part of that do you not get?"

"I'm staying too," Andrea said. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Me too," Jacqui said. "There's nothing out there for me. My family is all gone. I have nothing."

"We are not discussing this," Shane yelled. "Nobody is staying behind. We need to open a goddamn door and get out now!"

"Carl, give me your bag," I said. I quickly dug my way through Carl's bag and found the grenade I found a few days ago when I was digging through the gun bag dad had brought. I stood up and handed it to Shane. "Here, use it. Get out."

"You're going with us," Shane said again. He looked at Jacqui and Andrea, "You two are coming too. You'll get over this bullshit."

"You're not telling us what we can do," Jacqui said. "I'm staying."

"Jacqui is right," Andrea said. "Without Amy I'm all alone."

"You have us," Dale said. "Please don't do this."

"I've made my choice," Andrea said. "It'll be quick and painless."

"You don't know that," Dale said. "Please Andrea." Shane had heard enough and ran quickly towards the front lobby.

"So if you stay behind what about your brother?" Daryl asked.

"Carl can stay if he wants," I told him. "Or he can go. I'm sure he'll be fine with you guys."

"I lost my brother," Daryl said, "You already thought you lost your dad."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you do what you want. Losing him twice will be a bitch." We all heard the grenade explode and everyone was looking at me.

"Get out of here everyone," I told them.

"I want to stay with you," Carl said. He ran over and wrapped his arms around me.

"Jesus, you're really staying?" Glenn asked. His eyes started to water and he hugged me tightly.

"Thanks for saving him once," I told him.

"We were supposed to ride this out until the end."

"Please go," I told Glenn. "All of you." Sophia started crying as her and Carol ran away. T-Dog gave Jacqui a quick hug and turned to follow them. Glenn sniffed and turned away and walked slowly. Daryl nodded his head at me and walked off with his axe dragging behind him.

"Dale, go," Andrea said. "You need to get out of here."

"Why?" Dale asked. "I lost my wife too. I have nobody. I have every right to stay here too."

Shane reappeared once again and he looked even more upset. "You're coming with us. I don't care if I have to drag you by your hair Olivia. You can't do this to Carl."

"Carl wants to stay," I told him. "You can't change his mind. That's my father Shane, not some stranger on the street. I can't do this without him."

"You did before! Goddamn it Olivia." Shane reached down for Carl and slung him over his shoulder. He started reaching for my arm but I pushed myself as close to the door as I could. "Stop being like this!"

"If you consider my dad your best friend you'd find a way to get him out but you haven't! You don't give a shit about him."

"I love your dad like a brother and he wouldn't want you two to do this." He finally got a grip on my arm and started pulling me. "You'll thank me later."

"Shane let go!" I shouted at him. I had to give Shane some credit. He was holding Carl and dragging me along and had even managed to pull me a good distance while I fought back. "Stop it Shane!"

"We're running out of time Olivia," Shane said. "Stop fighting it." He continued pulling me when I heard the door being opened. I turned my head and saw my dad practically run into Dale.

"We have 90 seconds," he shouted. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. Shane was still holding on to Carl as he ran in front of us. We made it to the lobby everyone was gone; most likely all in their cars. We ran out of the building and ran towards where the cars were parked. "We need to take cover!" My dad pulled me around towards the other side of the RV and Shane did the same. I wanted to peak on the side of the RV. I was praying desperately that Dale, Andrea and Jacqui had changed their minds and followed us out.

I didn't even have time to check when I heard a voice shout out, "Dale, hurry up!" I hoped Dale had at least made it far enough because before I knew it the place had exploded. It was the loudest noise I had ever heard in my life and from where we were I could practically feel the air getting hotter than what it already was. I turned towards my dad and hugged him tightly.

I let go and stood up to walk towards the RV where Glenn was. Before I could even open the door it swung open and he flung himself right at me causing me to almost fall.

"Thank you for not staying," Glenn said. He squeezed even tighter and since I was already winded from the running I couldn't even breathe anymore. He let go and smiled. He was looking behind me and I turned to see Dale and Andrea walking towards us. "Where's Jacqui?"

Dale shook his head. He too was winded. Andrea didn't bother looking at anyone and went inside the RV. "She didn't want my blood on her hands. Jacqui's mind was already set so there was no talking her out of it."

"But if Andrea's dead she wouldn't know your blood's on her hands…" Glenn said. I stared at him and shook my head. "What? I mean you're dead. It's not like you actually have feelings and stuff."

"So what's the plan now?" T-Dog asked. The rest of the group came out of their cars and joined us. "Where are we going now? I think we should head for Fort Benning."

"What if it's the same shit as here?" Daryl asked. He stood behind everyone and he was shaking his head. "This was good for a few days but now we're fucked again."

"Fort Benning is south of here," my dad said. "We might as well try and see if they're still operating. If not we can try the coast. Glenn, you want to find us a route on the map and get us there?" Glenn nodded and went back into the RV. Everyone else started walking back to their cars and I walked after Daryl. I grabbed his arm to turn him around and gave him a hug.

"What's that for?" he asked. He patted my back once and went stiff right away. I pulled away and shrugged.

"Just happy to see you," I told him. He huffed and I put my two index fingers up to the corners of his lips. "Smile Daryl." Daryl removed my fingers from his face and tried to contain the tiny smile I saw creeping on his face. He turned away and walked back to his truck. This time instead of driving with Daryl I went inside the RV. Glenn had already found a route towards Fort Benning. He gave the map to me and told me he was going to drive for a while. I sat next to him and we took off.

"So did you finally break down the door?" Glenn questioned.

"No. I guess Jenner opened the door for my dad. His prick of a friend was practically dragging me though. I almost had to leave without my dad."

"Hmm…"

"That's all you have to say about that?" I asked.

"Well, if I say what I want to say you might hit me but if I say what you want to hear you might create a plot against Shane or something and drag me in with you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about half the time." I leaned back in the chair and stared out at the open road ahead of us. There were abandoned cars here and there but they were easy to maneuver around. My dad popped his head in the front and looked down at me.

"Carl said you were going to stay behind?" he asked.

"You were the one that told me you didn't want me leaving your sight."

He sighed and crotched down, "That doesn't mean I wanted you to get yourself blown up for me."

"Shane wanted to leave without you," I told him. I turned to look him in the eyes to see his reaction but he just stared at me with little emotion. "Your best friend didn't care about helping you all he wanted to do was get Carl and me out."

"He did the right thing."

"He did not! He doesn't care about you dad. Sometimes it's like he wants you gone or something. This proves it."

He shook his head at me and I couldn't believe him right now. I told him that Shane was willing to leave him to die and he had nothing to say besides Shane was right. I turned away from him and stared out at the road.

"You know when you were gone," I started but didn't know how to spit it out, especially with other people nearby. "Shane's not the guy you think he is. Shane and me…"

"Orange car!" Glenn shouted and whacked me in my arm. I stared at Glenn. "Did you forget we were playing that game before?" I noticed in the distant that there was a bright orange car that was parked headed in the opposite way. When we drove closer I noticed it was an orange Challenger.

"Wait, stop the RV," I told Glenn. Glenn kept driving and I hit his arm again. "Glenn, stop driving." Glenn pressed the brakes lightly and eventually we stopped.

"I know it's a sweet car but it's probably dead," Glenn said.

"That's not it," I said. I stood up and my dad stood up too. He was giving me an unsure look as I grabbed my gun off the dashboard, pushed past him and left the RV.

"Olivia, where are you going?" I heard him shout after me. I ran in front of the RV and jumped over the cement barricade that separated the lanes. "Olivia!" I ran towards the car and my hand reached for the driver's door. I held my gun out in front of me as I opened it. There was a body lying in the seat with a blanket over it. Before I could remove the blanket, the body moved. I gripped the gun tighter and took off the blanket only to get a gun pointed at my face too.

"Dean?" It almost didn't look like him. His normally clean, slicked back hair was all messy and wet. His cheeks were flushed but the rest of his face was pale and glistened from sweat.

"Holy fuck," he said as he got out of his car and stood in front of me holding on to the car door. We both lowered our guns and stared at each other. I wasn't sure what I was feeling besides numb. "I thought you were dead."

Glenn and my dad were both running out towards me now. The rest of the group was all standing along the barricade.

"Olivia, what did I say about running off?" my dad growled. He stared at Dean and glared at him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Well shit," Dean muttered, "I thought you were dead too." He looked back at me, "Are you going to say anything?" His hand went up to my face and I hit it away. "What are you doing down here? Were you going to see Jenner?" He looked over my shoulder again as he leaned on his car, "And you're with the delivery boy? Since when did you pick him over me?"

"His name's Glenn," I told him. "You should know that, Dean."

"Yeah, whatever," Dean replied. "His name isn't at the top of my list of people that I need to remember."

"Dean?" my dad asked. "As in Jenner's step-son?"

"As in your daughter's boyfriend," Dean said. "Unless you moved on to this one?" Dean was pointing at Glenn. "So you know Jenner? Did you guys see him?"

"He's dead," I told him, "So is your mom. She wasn't at the C.D.C. though. She was infected."

"So now I'm an orphan and your dad's been practically raised from the dead," Dean said. "Perfect."

"Why are you being such an asshole?"

"Why am I being an asshole? Don't be such a hypocrite when you're the biggest asshole there is. All you ever did was talk shit about your dad and how you wanted to leave so much yet here you two are. You had your chance to leave when he was lying in that hospital bed and you decided to get weak and guilty. You and I were supposed to be together and you just told me to fuck off at the hospital? You need to check that attitude of yours."

"I never said I wanted my dad dead."

"You might as well have," Dean said.

"Rick, what the hell is going on?" Shane asked. He was the only one that crossed the barricade to join us. "Who's he?"

"Olivia's boyfriend."

"Is he coming with us or what?" Shane asked uninterested.

"No," I said quickly.

"So you're just going to leave me out here?" Dean asked. "You're going to leave me all by myself while you get to cruise in that fancy ass RV? I haven't left this spot in two days. My car ran out of gas and I haven't had the energy to leave. There's nothing out here for me. I'm hungry, cold, tired and thirsty."

"You don't deserve to come with us," I told him. "With everything you've said you really except me to be okay with that? What gives you the right to call me out on my faults when you were the one that always said how much you hated your step-dad, yet you're on your way to see him?"

Dean swallowed once and looked at everyone who was standing behind me. "Apparently you don't care so I don't have to tell you why."

"This is getting ridiculous," my dad said, "You have one minute to come back in the RV Olivia." He turned to leave and Glenn followed.

"Tell me," I said. I touched his arm and he was really hot. "Dean, you're burning up. Why were you covering yourself in a blanket? It's at least over a 100 today." I touched the top of his sweaty head and noticed he was hot there too. "You need some water. You're coming with us."

"Thought you didn't want me," Dean said. I started pulling Dean by his hand to follow me.

"Olivia, I don't think this is a good idea," Shane said.

"Shut your fat mouth." I continued to pull Dean with me. He was a little wobbly as he walked so I tried to help him as much as I could.

"Olivia, he's—"

"Shut up." I continued to help him and once he got over the barricade Glenn came out to help. Dean walked inside the RV and sat down. I found a bottle with some water and gave it to him. "He's dehydrated. Is there any more water?"

"There's toilet water," Glenn suggested. I rolled my eyes at him. "What? He was the one being a prick and I get the eye roll?"

"He's dehydrated," I said. "You know Dean's nicer than this." Glenn rolled his eyes this time "Well, usually… This heat gets to you."

"Oh does it?" Glenn asked sarcastically. He handed me his water bottle and I gave it to Dean.

"You can take him in the back," Andrea said, "So I can sit in the front where Dale can watch me and make sure I don't do anything to hurt myself." She was glaring at Dale and sat down next to Dean.

"Appreciate it," Dean said. He stood up and walked to the back. He sat on the bed and leaned back. "I haven't laid in an actual bed in so long."

"Well, get some rest," I told him. "We're headed towards Fort Benning. Hopefully it's not overrun."

"I don't know why I told you all those things," Dean said. "I really missed you Olivia. I'm so happy I get to see you one more time but you shouldn't have brought me with you guys though."

"If you keep saying things like that I might just throw you out of here while we're moving," I told him.

"Why don't you lay down with me?" he asked. "You look tired."

"I've been sleeping the last two days. I'll just be outside, okay?"

"Just lay with me for a little bit?" he asked. I sighed and crawled next to him, leaving a good amount of space between the two of us.

"No cuddling though," I told him, "You're still an asshole and I don't want you touching me."

"Fine, but wake me up in an hour," he said. I was going to wait until he fell asleep before I could leave but lying in a bed always made me tired. I opened my eyes what felt like a few seconds later but I realized we were no longer moving. The only noise I heard was Dean's ragged breathing next to me.

I whacked him with my hand, "Close your mouth Dean. You sound like a gorilla." He didn't respond but continued breathing weirdly. "You sound like an old man Dean, shut up." I sat up to leave but was immediately grabbed by my hair. "What the fuck?"

I was pulled back to the position I was in and still breathing weirdly Dean moved so he was on top of me. He looked different and not like himself anymore. He was staring at me and his eyes were different, he was no longer Dean. His mouth starting inching towards my face and I tried pushing him off.

"Dad! Someone please fucking help me!"

No matter how much I pushed him off, he barely moved. He was much stronger than the female walker I encountered before. I used my knees to try to kick him off and it helped a little. He staggered to the side and I shoved him completely off me. I practically dove off the bed and felt him grab my foot. I fell to the ground and looked for something within grabbing reach to throw at him but I saw nothing. Nobody was in the RV and I wondered where they were all at. Dean was walking quicker than I was crawling so I picked up the pace and crawled towards the front.

"Dad!"

I saw a book on the floor and threw it back at Dean but I probably missed. I reached for the door handle and before I could pull it open the door flung open and Daryl was standing there with his crossbow. I practically dove towards his feet while he aimed and I assumed shot Dean. His body fell down where my feet were and Daryl reached for my hand to help me to my feet.

"Piece of shit didn't touch you, did he?" Daryl asked. I flung my arms around him and felt him do the same. It wasn't an awkward hug like the first one and it wasn't stiff like the second. It was an actual hug. He let go and turned around to the group that started walking towards us out of nowhere. "None of you knew that douche bag was infected? Y'all left her alone in there and she could have turned into one."

"Dean was infected?" Glenn asked. My dad ran up to me and started looking me over.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I'm so sorry I left. You two were asleep and we broke down. It's only been five minutes since we stopped."

"He didn't tell you he was infected?" Glenn asked again. "Are you okay?"

"Stop asking if I'm okay," I said. "He didn't tell me he was infected. I don't know what an infected person looks like. Jenner just said they're brain shuts down he never said what led to it."

"He didn't look right," Shane said, "I told you it wasn't a good idea. You didn't listen to me."

"Do not fucking blame me. If you knew he was infected you could have tried a hell of a lot harder to tell me."

"How am I supposed to tell you anything when you ignore everything I say? Or you tell me to shut my fat mouth? Tell me how I'm supposed to get through to you Olivia? You need to stop being such a–" I had enough of listening to Shane. I clenched my fist and hit him right on his cheek as hard as I could.

My dad quickly grabbed me from behind and picked me up so I was not standing so close to Shane anymore. "Enough Olivia." His grip tightened which was probably the best solution. I was so sick of Shane right now that one punch probably wouldn't have been the last one.

"You are a piece of shit. You don't get it do you? I'm done listening to you. You've done nothing good for me. You lie constantly and tried to leave my goddamn dad behind, and for what? I'm sorry I'm not Carl and I'm sorry that I don't worship you like Carl."

"You need to move on Olivia," Shane said. "I never lied to you about your dad. I don't know how many more times I have to tell you that."

"Are you done?" my dad asked. I didn't say anything so he continued to hold on to me. "Please let this go. We're all stressed and this isn't helping any. Are you listening to me?" I nodded my head and glared at Shane who started walking away.

My dad released his grip on me and I turned around to see Daryl was dragging Dean's body out of the RV. He continued to drag it so it was away from all of us. I went over to him and bent down to look at Dean's body. I pulled his sleeves up and didn't see a bite but when I rolled him to his stomach and looked at his back I saw he had a large Band-Aid there. The wrapping was bloody and I figured this is where he was bit.

I walked back towards the RV and sat down on the trunk of the car that was in front of it. I was wondering why we had stopped in the middle of the freeway but I answered my question as I looked at all the cars that had blocked the freeway completely.

Daryl came and leaned next to me on the car. "So it looks like we're even." I looked at him and frowned.

"Meaning?"

"You shot my brother and I put down your boyfriend. We're even."

"I would have killed him myself if I didn't misplace my gun," I told him. "And there was literally nothing within reaching distance in there."

"You could have stabbed him."

"Do you want me to thank you or something?" I asked. I groaned loudly and leaned back on the car. "What are we going to do about the car situation?"

"Looks like I'll have to leave my truck behind," Daryl said, "At least my bike can move around this shit."

"Looks like me and you can take that trip down to the coast then."

"What about your dad? You were determined to not leave him five hours ago."

"He can run behind us or we can find a side cart for him to ride in." Daryl let out a laugh but quickly went stern face when Glenn walked up to us.

"I found candy in this car back there."

"That's gross," I told him, "It's probably old or diseased."

"It's wrapped up," Glenn said. "Suit yourself. More for me and the kids."

"Did you find anything else?"

"Shane found a water truck up ahead, and there are a few cars with food but not a lot." Glenn shrugged his shoulders as he opened the candy wrapper and started eating it, "It's better than nothing I guess."

"So are we staying here all night?" I asked. "It doesn't even look safe."

"We probably are. It's getting late and unless we move a lot of cars off this highway we're stuck for the night." Glenn continued to eat his candy bar as he walked away.

"Since you're always finding yourself in bad situations you can have this," Daryl said. He was dangling his knife he usually carried in front of me.

"Isn't that yours?"

"Keep it," he said. "You need it more than me."

"Am I supposed to just carry it like that?" I asked. I took it from him and touched the blade gently. "What if I just stab myself or something?"

"Stand up," Daryl said. "You're so damn ungrateful."

I started to laugh and stood up, "What's that supposed to mean?" He reached towards his belt and undid the clip that held his knife before. "Were you really going to carry that around your belt without your knife?"

"Are you going to make me regret giving you this?" He asked as he started to clip the small leather pouch to the loop of my jeans. "If you lose this—"

"I won't lose it."


	7. A Constant Wave of Tension

**I tried really hard to post this before my spring break last week but I ran out of time. I wanted to change the POV at the very end but decided to scrap it for now. A new POV is most likely going to happen though. I just have to make it work instead of just throwing it in there and completely ruining the story.**

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><p>The entire group was crammed inside of Dale's RV for the night. Since I did nothing but sleep for the last few days, I volunteered to take watch. It was pretty dark outside so it was going to be hard to keep a good look out for the walkers. An hour into my watch Daryl came up to where I was sitting and handed me a blanket.<p>

"That jacket ain't going to be enough," he told me. I smiled up at him as he unfolded a chair and sat next to me. I put down the rifle I was holding and wrapped the blanket around me. "You also need something quieter than that."

"You know you're going to run out of arrows one day," I told him. "You think you're so cute with your crossbow now but just wait a few weeks."

The two of us talked for a while. I tried getting more out of Daryl about his past but he always talked his way out of answering my questions. I tried to bore him with a few stories of my own but he still wouldn't open up. Finally, almost an hour later he told me he was raised mostly by Merle, when he wasn't in juvie, and was always neglected a lot by his alcoholic father.

"I'm sorry about Merle." Daryl shrugged but I knew he was upset. "It doesn't make you weak if you cry over him."

"Merle's not worth cryin' over," he said. "What about you? I don't see you cryin' over that boyfriend of yours."

I shrugged my shoulders this time. "He's not worth crying over either. I used to care for him but I don't know what happened. I think everything that happened with my dad numbed me or something. I just sat around his bed until Carl got out of school."

"You should be nicer to your dad," Daryl said. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my head to Daryl. "You're always off with the Chinaman or something."

"Or running off with you?" I asked. "I think if I remember correctly you wanted me to come with you to find Merle."

"That was one time. I'm talking about you sleepin' in the Chinama—"

"Glenn."

"Whatever. You were sleeping in his room and your old man was looking everywhere for you. For some reason he thought you were in my room. He even checked under the bed."

I was about to say something when the door that led down opened up and my dad popped his head up. "I can take over from here Daryl."

"Whatever hoss. I gotta take a leak anyways." Daryl stood up, took his crossbow and walked down the steps. My dad closed the lid and sat down where Daryl was.

"How you doing?" he asked.

"Fine." I scooted my chair closer and put half the blanket over his legs. "Aren't you tired?"

I saw him rub his eyes. "Not really. Nobody can sleep down there anyways." He sighed loudly and I saw his leg bouncing up and down. "Are you sure you're alright? I've been talking to Dale. He said you been different."

"It's kinda hard to be happy with all of this going on."

"Not happy," he said shaking his head, "Different."

"We've been over this," I told him.

"You're telling me all this anger towards Shane is because he lied to you? This seems more personal. There's something that's missing. What aren't you telling me?"

"You're smart enough to know that's the only reason." I shined a flashlight quickly out into the distance and turned it off when I saw nothing. "We need to find some night vision binoculars or something. It's not safe out here being in the dark."

He leaned closer and reached for my hand. "What were you trying to tell me before? Before you found Dean? You started saying something about you and Shane."

"Nothing Dad."

"Did you and Shane…" He stopped midsentence and let go of my hand. "Did he—"

"Dad, just stop. It's nothing to worry about."

"Olivia, please tell me you didn't."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. I started fingering circle into the blanket completely avoiding my dad's gaze.

"Jesus Christ." From the corner of my eye I saw him lean back in his chair. I looked over at him as he leaned forwards and put his head in his hands. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"This isn't funny," he said. He leaned forward and turned my head so I was looking him in his eyes. "Why would you do that?"

"Well at least I won't get pregnant. Aren't you glad to hear about that?"

"Stop making jokes. Did he force himself on you?"

I let out a laugh but quickly stopped when I realized he was glaring at me. "Not really." He leaned back in disbelief. "No, he didn't."

"Why would you do this? How long has this been happening?"

I shrugged. "Like a month? Look I'm sorry you found out like this. I wanted to tell you but then I didn't know how to tell you." I shrugged again. "I just… I let this happen but after you came back it stopped. I know it was wrong but… I really don't know what to say." He was looking out into the distance now. "Sorry I'm an even bigger disappointment to you now."

"I would tell you to go down and get some sleep but I don't want you anywhere near Shane."

"What are you going to do to Shane?" I questioned. I looked over at him and he was still looking straight ahead. We both sat in silence for a while. "So why did Jenner keep you locked in that room for so long? Did he tell you anything?"

He continued to ignore me. I really didn't know what to say but I was sure that nothing would help. My dad probably thinks I'm a whore and there was nothing I could do to change that. I wondered what exactly Dale said to him that made him jump to his conclusions. Had Dale seen us? I was sure we were always careful but now I'm not so sure.

Once the sun started rising some of the group started coming out of the RV. I quickly stood up and started climbing down inside. Andrea was sitting at the table staring at her gun. I wondered if she was still on suicide watch but since Dale was nowhere to be seen I assumed he gave up trying to get through to her. I walked past her and walked outside where some of the group had already started moving cars.

Some of the cars had the keys in them which made it easier to move but a majority of the cars were completely dead. Glenn suggested we got the brake lines to some of the cars but nobody else thought that was a good idea.

"Dean's dad was a mechanic." I said. "When a car is completely dead they go underneath a flip a switch." Most of the guys looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't know the exact terms that mechanics used but I learned a good amount from Dean's dad. "If you disconnect the shift thingy underneath your car can shift to neutral and you can push it easier."

"That doesn't even sound safe," Glenn said. "Unless we block off the tires? But with what?"

"I can try it with one car and if works then you're welcome."

"Do you even know what you're doing under there?" Glenn asked. "You just said shift thingy. That doesn't sound like you know what you're doing."

"Find me something that will hold the tires in place," I said. T-Dog quickly ran off while I got underneath one of the dead cars. Glenn crotched down and peaked his head under.

"Did you find the thingy?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and found exactly what I was looking for. Sure it wasn't exactly safe but it was a better idea than cutting the brake lines. At least this way we were able to control the brakes if we needed to.

I saw boots walk up to Glenn and realized they were Daryl's.

"You know what you're doing?" he asked. I rolled out from under the car and looked up at him.

"Sure I do. Did you find me something to hold the tires?"

"Me and the kid here will watch the car," Daryl said. "It's not much of an incline out here; it's pretty flat."

"So you're saying I have to trust you two with my life?" I asked.

"I already saved your life once," Daryl said. "Now come on. Let's see if your little plan will work."

"If you two are going to be in the front, I want at least two others in the back to make sure it doesn't roll that way." T-Dog who finally came back empty handed stood in the back and Carol who was the closest body to us volunteered to help.

I went back under the car and hesitantly flipped the switch. When I heard the click I saw the car jerk a little. I quickly got out from under it but noticed it didn't roll. T-Dog and Carol started pushing the car and it moved.

"See, I told you I could do it," I told Daryl who had a small grin look on his face. "I don't have just a pretty face."

"Well look at you. Now do the rest of them," he said. I looked up the road and noticed there were a lot of cars that still needed to be moved. It was going to be a long day.

A few hours later I was lying under a truck. The shade felt great since it was another extremely hot day. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, imaging I was back at home in my bed in my air conditioned room. My eyes opened when I heard shuffling of feet and someone said out loud "Oh shit."

I was about to roll over from under the car to stand up when I noticed Sophia quickly get down under the car to my right.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked. I rolled to my stomach and popped my head out to my right. I saw Daryl was running towards the car I was under and nearly stepped on my hand as he bent down. He told me to move over and pushed himself so he no part of him was sticking out.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked again.

"Walkers," he said. "Hundreds of them."

"Where's Carl?" I asked. I was about to leave my spot when he pulled my arm.

"They're all under cars," he whispered. "Don't move or say a word." After a minute I heard the shuffling of feet. Slowly the feet became visible and it was clearly obvious they were walkers. Most of the bottoms of their legs were discolored and they were limping. I pushed myself as far as I could from the edge and bumped into Daryl. "Stop moving." I heard Sophia whimper and I motioned to her to keep quiet.

I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders but I didn't feel safe. This was absolutely the worst way to die. How long could we stay under here? And how many of them were out there? We really stood no chance if they kept coming.

"You better not start crying," he whispered into my ear.

"I'm not going to cry," I whispered back to him. "I'm really claustrophobic and I feel like I'm in a box and can't get out." I leaned my head down on the gravel and felt Daryl shift his weight. He moved my head so it was lying on his arm instead of the hard cement.

"They're going to move on," he said. "We just need to stay here for now." I looked over at Sophia again and she was crying into her doll.

"I don't want to die like this," I said. I heard Daryl click his tongue.

"We ain't gonna die. We just need to wait it out."

"What if we do though?" I asked. "What's one last thing you'd want to do?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just asking," I said.

"I don't know what I want but I know we're going to be alright. Those things are idiots. They haven't found us yet. What about—" I cut him off by pressing my lips against his. I really don't know what I would do if this were really my last few minutes but it seemed right. I really didn't even care if I embarrassed myself and he pushed me off, but so far he hadn't moved me off him. His free arm moved so it was on my hip.

I was starting to get uncomfortable from craning my neck to reach Daryl's lips that I stopped kissing him. I went back to lying on my back and turned my head. A few stragglers continued to walk on by and I was hoping they were the last ones. I saw Sophia peek her head out from under the car. I saw her try to get up by quickly went back underneath and started inching away. A walker was standing between our two cars and immediately started reaching for Sophia.

She was moving further away from the walker that I was afraid she was going to run away just to get away from it. I reached down for the knife Daryl gave me and quickly got out from the protection of the car and kicked the walker so its attention was now on me. When it turned to face me I stabbed it in its eye. The walker dropped dead and I removed the knife from its eye.

"Sophia, you're okay," I said bending down. I realized she wasn't under the car and stood up. I saw her starting to climb over the barrier with a walker right behind her. "Oh shit." I started walking around the car when Daryl popped out.

"Don't go after her," he said. He stood up to his feet but I was already at the barrier. "Olivia, goddamn it, stop." I ignored him and climbed over the barrier and started running after Sophia who was being chased down by the walker. He was slower than her but he was still way ahead of me.

By the time I reached the wooded area I was closer to the walker. I wasn't the fastest runner but I picked up my speed with my knife in hand. I jumped on its back and before it could get up I rammed the knife right through its skull. I pulled the knife out and stabbed it again just to make sure it was dead.

I stood up and started running after Sophia again. I called her name out a few times in a low voice but heard nothing but birds twittering. I had no idea where I was going and had no idea how I was going to get back. I was pretty sure I just kept running straight but everything looked the same out here.

I kept walking straight looking for any signs of small foot prints but I saw nothing. I reached the end and below was a small creek.

"Sophia? Are you down there?" I looked around and heard nothing still. "Sophia, don't be afraid. It's just me. Those walkers are dead but we need to get back." I was about to turn around to keep walking when I heard a branch snap below. I turned my head and looked down at the creek. "Sophia?" I walked closer towards the edge and since I couldn't see anything I climbed down into the water. I slipped on a rock and fell when I heard another branch crack.

Sophia came out of her hiding spot right as I reached for my gun. I let out a breath and stood up.

"You're a fast runner," I told her. I put my gun back on my waist and wiped my muddy hands on my jeans. "You're okay now." Sophia hugged me and I felt her reaching for my gun. "No hon. No guns." I wiped mud off her cheek and took her hand. "Come on. We need to find a way back to the highway."

She squeezed my hand and we started walking up the creek. The top part where I was standing a few minutes ago was too high for me to climb. I could easily hoist Sophia up but there was no way I could climb that by myself. I didn't want to risk splitting up so I thought finding higher ground was better.

"We should wait for someone," Sophia said. "Right?"

I shook my head. I had no idea what to do. I've never spent a single day in a forest and I was horrible at directions. We could be out here for hours if we waited for someone to find us. But if we kept moving we might end up in an even worse position; heading further and further away from our group. Either way, we were completely fucked unless we found our way to the highway.

"I don't know Sophia. As long as you don't leave my side we'll be safe," I told her.

"But what if there are more of those things? I can't run anymore."

I squeezed her hand and smiled down at her. I had no idea what to say to her. I only had six bullets in my gun and Daryl's knife. If there were more than two walkers at one time we were definitely screwed.

"Let's just try to find the highway, okay? I'm sure they're not going to send everyone looking for us." We continued walking up the creek and eventually were able to get out of the water. We kept walking straight up from where we thought we ran in. It made the most sense that eventually we would find the highway, but an hour later we were still in the woods.

"We ran straight," I said more to myself than to Sophia. "How can we not find the highway?" Sophia was sitting down catching her breath. I decided to sit next to her. It was still extremely hot and there was no shade anywhere to cool down. I was sure she was as thirsty as I was.

"What if we don't get out of here?" she asked. "I want my mom."

"We'll find them." I wiped the sweat off my forehead and fanned myself with my hand. If we couldn't find our group we had to at least find a place that had running water. "Does any of this look familiar? We might be walking in circles."

"We haven't turned though. We just keep walking straight." Sophia wiped her head too and looked at me. "What if we walked in the opposite direction?"

"I don't know. Shit. I'm sorry Sophia. I'm the last person you should be stuck out here with. I'm just getting us deeper into this place and I have no idea how long we'll be out here." Sophia leaned over to hug me.

"You killed those walkers though. I just ran from them. This is my fault."

"No hon. Don't think like that." I stood up and grabbed her hand. "Come on. Let's keep walking. Maybe there's a house out here or something. I know you're probably thirsty."

I looked up at the sky to look at the sun. We were heading South when we were driving and the sun sets on the West, right? So we needed to head North? I scrunched up my nose thinking of all these directions. I wish I knew what direction I was headed by looking at the sun or the way a bird was flying. This was completely ridiculous. I looked down at my watch. It was almost 4:30 in the afternoon. The sun was going to set in a few hours and we were still in the middle of the forest completely unprotected.

If we were to actually survive this end of the world bullshit I was definitely going to turn a new leaf. I was going to stop relying so much on technology and actually go outside more. I hated being so defenseless and vulnerable. It was the worst feeling in the world.

"There's something up there," Sophia said. I saw her pointing to something out in the distance. It looked like a tent. She started pulling me towards it but I was more hesitant. What if there were dead bodies in there or what if there were people but they weren't good people? I pulled Sophia so she was standing behind me. I pulled out my gun and pointed it straight out.

It was a small campground with only one tent and camping supplies. I told Sophia to stand away from the tent while I walked closer to it. I opened the tent and saw it was empty.

"They have water," Sophia said. She walked closer and bent down to pick up a half empty bottle of water. She took one big sip and passed the bottle to me. I grabbed the bottle and started searching for more water. I wanted to be sure we could find more before we finished this bottle. Inside the tent I found another half-filled bottle a full one.

"Well we're good for at least tonight and tomorrow," I told her. I took a sip of the bottle she gave me and handed it back. "Do you see any food?" She started digging through the campsite but all she found were empty wrappers. I wondered if the people who camped out here were alive or not. Either way it didn't feel 100% safe being here but it was better than walking around.

"Are we staying here?" Sophia asked.

"Either here or a tree," I told her. We both walked into the tent and I zipped it closed. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll stay awake and keep an eye on our surroundings."

"Don't leave me alone," Sophia said.

"I'm not leaving." I sat down and Sophia went to lie down with her head on my lap. I ran my fingers through her hair. I felt so bad for her. She lost her father less than a week ago and now she was away from her mom. But despite running off the way she had she was a pretty tough little girl.

"Tell me a story," she asked. I continued to run my fingers through her hair and laughed.

"I'm not a very good story teller."

"Did you ever tell Carl any stories?"

"I haven't read Carl a story in years," I said.

"Are you and Glenn going out?"

I laughed really loud that I ended up snorting. "No, Sophia. He's my friend."

"Do you find anyone cute then?"

"Do you?"

She turned her head and looked up at me. "Your dad is kinda cute."

I laughed again. "Oh. He's okay."

"I like his uniform. I know he'll find us. Carl told me stories about him. I wish he was my dad."

"Don't say that," I told her. "I'm sure your dad was… well, I'm sure he had some redeeming qualities." The only thing I knew about Sophia's dad was that he was a bigger prick then Shane and Daryl combined. I was sure he hit his wife a few times. I may hate Shane but he never hit a woman or forced me to do anything I didn't want to.

"Your dad's a cop though and he's nice. I know he'll find us or Shane."

"Yeah, they will, but tomorrow when the sun comes up we need to find the highway. They won't leave without us but we can't stay here hoping they're going to find us."

"You won't let anything bad happen to us, will you?"

"I'll try not to," I said not making any promises.


	8. We Walk By Faith, Not Sight

**I tired getting this out sooner but I re-wrote it three times. I decided to write in in third person instead of writing it in Daryl's POV. I figured I would screw it up that way.** **It's only going to be this way for at least one more chapter so bare with me. And thanks for the reviews :)**

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><p>Rick had heard Daryl call out Olivia's name and got up quickly from under the car he was hiding under. He ran over to where he saw Daryl was standing and looked out into the distance. If he hadn't gotten out from under the car as quick as he did he would have missed her running into the woods.<p>

The rest of the group started coming out from under the cars to where Rick and Daryl stood. Carol was sobbing and nobody but Daryl knew why.

"Sophia ran and Olivia went after her," Carol said. She was starting to climb over the barrier when Shane grabbed her by her shoulders. "I have to get my baby back."

"I'll get them," Rick said. He started climbing over the barrier and Daryl followed him. "Y'all stay there and we'll be right back. Nobody else leaves here." Rick and Daryl started running after Olivia and came upon a dead walker they assumed that was chasing Sophia.

"She got it," Daryl said. "They have to be around here somewhere." Daryl had his crossbow aimed out in front of him and Rick was looking at the ground. They both looked at the ground for visible footsteps and only saw a few walking in the opposite direction of the highway. They started getting faint as the continued to follow them. Daryl started looking at branches to see if any of them had been broken but he wasn't finding anything.

"They have to be around here somewhere," Rick said. He was getting anxious. He saw no sign of either one of the girls but he wanted to keep faith that they were together and okay. Daryl and Rick kept moving and soon came to the creek. Looking down Daryl noticed below there were some muddy shoeprints.

"They were here," he said. "Think they went up that way?" The two of them started following the path adjacent to the creek. They followed the creek and saw more shoeprints at the end climbing up to where they were now standing. They followed the muddy boot prints for a few feet until they weren't able to see them anymore.

"The highway is that way," Daryl said pointing to his right. "She ain't dumb enough to go the opposite direction, is she?"

"She doesn't know her left from her right when it comes to directions," Rick said. "She depended too much on her damn GPS." He sighed loudly and continued walking up a small incline looking for any sign of shoeprints. "You would think she would have at least retraced her steps."

"Maybe she couldn't find the girl right away," Daryl said. "The little one got a good head start." Rick started walking not sure what direction he should go in. The two of them were walking for at least fifteen minutes when Daryl stopped. "We're just walking with no clue which way they went. We can't even track them and it's getting late. Maybe they already found their way to the highway."

"And what if they didn't? That's my daughter and Sophia is a little girl. We can't just give up right away. What if they aren't even together? Those boot prints were obviously Olivia's and I didn't see any smaller ones following."

"Well if she isn't a good with her surroundings why did she run after her?" Daryl asked. "She was just askin' for trouble."

"I'm not giving up," Rick argued back. "I'll stay out here all night if I have to."

"You ain't thinkin' straight man. We can keep looking but eventually it's gonna get dark. She's got her gun. She's probably out looking for somewhere to stay. Maybe she's in a tree or somethin'."

Rick heard everything Daryl said but he continued walking. The two of them seemed to have walked in a giant circle but eventually they reached the highway. Rick quickened his pace and reached the top of the hill where the rest of the group was standing where he left them.

"Did they come back?" he asked right away.

"You didn't find them?" Carol asked. Her face was still tear-stained and it was obvious the two girls never came back.

"Shit!" Rick yelled out loud. He kicked the tire of one car nearest to him. Shane walked over to Rick and put his hand on Rick's shoulder.

"We'll find them brother. Something must have spooked them into running the opposite direction."

"What are we going to do?" Carl asked. "We need to get Olivia Dad."

"We can't keep lookin' for them in the dark," Daryl said. "It ain't safe for any of us. We're just going to be trippin' over ourselves in the dark."

"Well why didn't you stop her then?" Shane accused looking right at Daryl. "I'm sure I heard you yell out her name but that was it."

"You expect me to pull her by her arm or throw her over my shoulder to stop her?" Daryl asked. "She got a mind of her own and there was nothing I could do about it. She chose to go after Sophia. I didn't see none of y'all doing the same thing."

"That's bullshit," Shane said. "When it comes to that girl throwing her over your shoulder is the only thing you can do to get her to listen to you."

"Shane, you need to hush up," Rick said. The way he was looking at Shane was different. The two of them were at odds for a few days but the look on Rick's face looked like pure anger. He turned his back to the rest of the group and pinched the bridge of his nose. "First thing tomorrow we're going back out there." He turned around to look at the group. "If I had it my way I'd be out there right now but Daryl's right. It isn't safe for anyone to be out there."

"Dad, what if the walkers come back?" Carl asked. "Are we safe here?"

"We're no safer than they are out there," Rick answered honestly.

"What if we can't find them?" he asked. Rick put his hand on his son's shoulder in a reassuring way but he didn't know what to say. Nobody knew how big that woods was or where it led to. For all he knew Olivia might have ended up on the opposite end of the woods.

"It's still a little light out," Glenn said. "I can go out for a bit."

"Nah, we need to stay here," Rick said. "Tomorrow we'll split up into groups; one group will go out looking and one will stay here in case they come back."

Rick walked past everyone with Carl and stepped into the RV. Carol was still upset and eventually followed Rick. The group all looked at each other not sure what to say or do.

"Are we really going to stay another night out here?" Andrea asked. "That RV isn't safe. If one walker came in and another group of them comes by what chance do we have to survive that one too?"

"We don't really have many options," Dale spoke up. "Sophia's just a small girl and Olivia risked a lot going after her. Just because they're not back yet doesn't mean they're dead. At least we got most of the cars out of the way. Once we find them tomorrow we can continue on to Fort Benning."

"What if we don't find them?" Andrea asked. "Are we going to stay here until we find their dead bodies? This is a graveyard out here. We aren't safe."

The group looked at one another again and all walked back into the RV for another uncomfortable night. As soon as the sun came up Daryl was the first out of the RV. He had been ready to go back hours ago. He was determined to find the two girls today; even more so than Carol and Rick. He felt a small amount of guilt that he hadn't run after them and Rick was the only one who could see it written all over his face.

"You know there wasn't much you could do," Rick said.

"I coulda done a helluva lot more." He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and shrugged. "I shouldn't have just stood around doing nothing."

"We had to have been right behind them," Rick explained. "I don't know where they went but we'll find them. You can't beat yourself up about this. My girl is smart, I know if she's with Sophia she's doing everything she can do keep them both safe."

Daryl scoffed, "You better be talking about yourself 'cuz I ain't beatin' myself up over anything."

Everyone gathered together and loaded themselves up with knives and axes. Andrea was the only one arguing about having a gun but was shut down right away by Shane and Rick. Andrea almost was going to stay behind with Daryl and T-Dog because she wasn't allowed a gun but decided she'd rather be unarmed than to spend more than a minute with Dale.

They all headed out and found no sign of anything after about thirty minutes. They headed around a corner and something caught Daryl's eye. It was a yellow tent. He motioned for Rick to follow him. Carol immediately jumped in front of Rick to see what Daryl was looking at. Half sticking out of the tent was a leg. The owner of the leg was sprawled out on the ground with its upper torso inside of the tent.

Carol started crying and Andrea went to comfort her. Daryl quickly went over to the tent and pushed opened the flap. He looked down to see a dead walker that had been bludgeoned in the head several times. He was always missing his shirt. Inside the tent was a small cooler that was extremely bloody; it was most likely used to kill him.

"It ain't them," he called out. He turned around to see relief wash all over Rick's face. Daryl bent down to examine the single knife wound on the walker's forehead. He looked closer and stood up. "I think this was them."

"How do you know?" Shane asked.

"The knife I gave her was sharp and cut like this, it had no ragged edges," Daryl said. "It's a long shot but it's possible it could be them."

"How the hell did they end up over here?" Shane asked. "We've been walking for at least 20 minutes. This is the complete opposite direction of the highway."

"There are obviously walkers out here," Glenn said, "Maybe they got spooked into running in the opposite direction."

"We still don't know that this kill was them," Andrea said. "Someone was camping here, maybe it was them."

Daryl had enough of listening to Andrea's complaints that he started walking away. Rick did a quick look over of the tent and when he found nothing and caught up with the group.

"Do you think we'll find them soon?" Carl asked. Rick looked down at Carl and flashed him a tiny smile.

"I don't think we should all be together," Shane said. "If we split up we'll get more ground covered. We can't waste more sunlight being together. Y'all head back around the way we just came and Rick and I will go around the other way."

"You splitting us up?" Daryl asked. "Is that the best idea?"

"Can't keep wasting time be all together," Shane said. "Daryl, you know your way around the woods best. Just lead everyone back safely and we'll meet y'all there soon."

Daryl glared at Shane but started walking back towards the way they came with Andrea, Glenn and Carol. Glenn kept shooting looks in Carol's way every time she would slip behind.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Carol had stopped walking and leaned against a tree. She was looking at Daryl with disgust, and then she turned away. "Carol?" Carol shook her head and sighed loudly. "I'm sorry about what you're going through but you're not alone in feeling like crap. Rick's missing Liv you know. At least Sophia isn't alone." Carol looked up at Glenn and then back to Daryl.

"You actually blame me?" Daryl questioned. He walked closer to the two of them and shook his head. "I know I should have ran after them but you can't keep glarin' at me every goddamn minute, woman. At least someone ran after your kid. Where the hell were you?"

"He's right," Glenn said quietly.

"Hell yeah I'm right," Daryl barked. "I didn't see none of y'all running after Sophia. Olivia jumped up without hesitation and she doesn't even know her way around a place that isn't a shopping mall. I don't know her as well as her old man but she doesn't seem the type to be skipping into the woods chasing after a kid who was perfectly fine if she wouldn't have ran off." Carol looked down at the ground while Glenn and Andrea both looked at Daryl. "Now if you're done with your moping can we move on?"

Carol nodded once and started walking after Daryl with Glenn and Andrea behind them. They both shared a look with each other but said nothing. Daryl kept his eyes focused on the ground looking for any footprints but he was coming up with nothing.

"I think it's about time we head back to the highway," Daryl said. "Meet up with Rick and Shane and see what to do next."

"We're going to give up for today?" Carol asked.

"We've been out here for hours," Daryl said. "We've looked everywhere—"

"But we don't know how big these woods are," Carol said. "They could still be out there."

"Exactly!" Daryl shouted. "We don't know how big these woods are. I'm sure as shit they were the ones that took that walker down by the tent. They're still around. They might have found a home nearby and are staying there for a while. We ain't gonna give up so don't go thinking that's what we're doing." Daryl turned back to start walking and within 15 minutes they reached the highway.

"How is it we can find the highway and they can't?" Carol asked. She started silently crying once again while Daryl shook his head and looked at Glenn.

"Anything could have happened," Glenn said. "One wrong turn in there and I'd be lost too. Liv really is that stupid when it comes to directions. She probably still thinks we live on the West coast, so… I don't think she was thinking she'd get lost when she went after Sophia. I just think she went after her because it was the right thing to do."

"No luck?" T-Dog asked. Everyone shook their head and Carol went back into the RV. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Shane, Rick and Carl didn't come back?" Glenn asked. Dale closed the hood of his RV and wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "You guys split up?"

"Shane thought it would be better if we split up," Glenn said. "He wanted to cover more ground."

"What do we do now?" Andrea asked. "Did you even finish fixing the RV?"

"It's been finished hours ago," Dale said. "I just wanted to pretend it needed more tinkering. We can't leave without those two girls and if I said it was ready to move someone of you might suggest we leave."

"Nobody said anything about moving on," Daryl said, "Except maybe blondie."

"No, he's right," Andrea said. "We can't just leave them out there."

"I'm gonna go back out there," Daryl announced. "Maybe we missed something."

"Is that the smartest move Daryl?" Dale asked.

"Standing around here is doing them no good," Daryl said. "What if one of 'em got hurt?"

"You didn't find anything?" T-Dog questioned.

"There were some boot prints but they started getting lighter," Glenn said. "And most of the prints we saw were Olivia's. Not sure why there weren't any smaller ones."

"Do you think they're separated?" Dale asked. Glenn shrugged his shoulders. Nobody had any answers.

The group started walking towards the RV when they sound of hooves running down the highway towards them caught them off guard. Daryl quickly got out his crossbow and was aiming it at that woman.

"Are all y'all part of Rick and Shane's group?" she asked.

Daryl still was aiming his crossbow at her, "Who wants to know?"

"There was an accident and they're at my house," she said. "Rick said if you found Olivia to let her know and the rest of y'all can come on up. It's two miles down and the first driveway on your right." Everyone looked at each other and then at the girl.

"What kind of accident?" Dale asked.

"Carl got shot," she said. "Are any of y'all Olivia?"

"Holy shit," Glenn said. He lowered his voice so the woman wouldn't hear him. "We can't tell Rick that Olivia's still missing and now his son is shot. It's going to kill him."

"So what do we do?" Andrea asked. "Do we go or stay?" Carol popped her head out of the RV and looked down at the group.

"We can't leave," she said. "What if they come back and we're not here?"

"She's right," Daryl said. "I'll stay with the RV and y'all take Carol's car to where Rick is at."

"If the RV is staying so am I," Dale said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Okay, so what do I tell Rick?" the girl asked. "Oh, and do any of you have A positive blood type? Carl needs it and Rick can't be the only donor at this point. Carl's losing too much blood."

"I do," Glenn said. "Is Carl going to make it?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "My dad is going to try his best to save him. Shane and Otis went to go get some medical supplies but Rick can't be the only one giving blood. You gotta come with me."

"Just go with her Glenn," Dale said. "If she said Shane isn't with Rick that means he's all alone. He needs someone to be with him right now."

"Why do I have to be the one to give Rick more bad news?" Glenn grumbled.

"I have A positive too," T-Dog said. "I'll go with you. Rick's a good man. He doesn't deserve to be alone with strangers."

"Fine," the girl said. "Just remember first driveway on your left." She took off on her horse leaving the group staring at one another.

"I can't believe Rick's luck," Glenn said. He shook his head. "So are you guys going to just stay here and keep searching for them?"

"Like I said I'm going to go back out there right now," Daryl said. "Might as well try harder to give Rick some good news." Glenn nodded his head at Daryl and him and T-Dog took off down the road.

Daryl went into the RV to fetch a flashlight and came back out.

"I'm going with you," Andrea said. Daryl turned his back and rolled his eyes. He knew there was no point in arguing with her. The two of them headed off again. The only thing he wanted to do was to find the two girls and get the hell off of that highway.

They had both been quiet but Daryl finally broke the silence. "Why do y'all got that same look on your face? Like you really don't think we're going to find them."

"Because it looks like we keep walking around in circles and we keep finding our way back up to the highway," Andrea said. "Why can't they do the same?"

"You say that now but it isn't always easy finding your way around if you don't analyze your surroundings. That girl straight up ran and I'm sure she didn't stop and look at what tree she just ran past; she wanted to find Sophia."

"Do you think they're together? Sophia's only 12. Do you really think she's any better at being able to find us?"

"I've gotten lost before," Daryl said. "I was nine and not one person knew I was missing. They're lucky they have people looking after them."

"You seem to be taking this more personal than anyone else."

"No I ain't."

"No one blames you, you know. I'm sure you just thought Liv would catch her and she'd be right back. No one knew the clusterfuck she'd get herself into." Daryl chose to ignore Andrea and continue walking. They had walked in a different direction than they did earlier and ended up at a small church.

"Maybe they took shelter in there," Daryl said. He had his crossbow in front of him and Andrea was holding out the hatchet Dale had given her in place of a gun. Daryl opened the door to the church and shined his flashlight around. They both called out the girls' names and didn't hear a response back.

Daryl walked closer to the pews and saw a body lying on the floor. He quickly jogged to the body and turned it over. It was only a dead walker.

"There's a dead walker here," Andrea said. "It has a bullet wound." She turned to look at Daryl and sarcastically asked him, "So you think this was them too?" He checked the dead walker in front of him and noticed it was shot too. He continued walking down the aisle of the church and saw two more dead walkers. One of them was shot and the other's head was smashed in.

"That's three that were shot down," Daryl said. "Maybe she had no choice but to use her gun." Daryl called out Olivia's name extremely loud and kept looking around the small church. He was about to give up when he shined his flashlight in the corner in the front; something had caught his eye. He walked closer to it and bent down. Andrea walked right behind him when he picked it up.

"Is that Sophia's doll?" she asked. Daryl stood up and examined the doll that Sophia carried everywhere with her. It was covered it dirt and blood. "They were here. But what does this mean? Did she drop it or what?"

Daryl started shining his flashlight on every inch of the ground. He didn't see anything until he looked at the ground at the entrance of the church. There were small drops of blood.

"Found some blood here," Daryl said. "I think one of them is hurt."

"Do you think one of them got bit?" Andrea asked.

"Hope not." He sighed once and stood up. "At least we know they got this far. They gotta be around here somewhere."

"It's going to be impossible to keep searching for them with just a flashlight," Andrea said. "Maybe we should just head back and check again tomorrow."

"We're right behind them. We can't just give up because it's dark."

"Weren't you the one that said we shouldn't be out here at night? What do you have to prove by finding them?"

"Why wouldn't you want to find them?" Daryl questioned. "Just because your sister died doesn't mean they have to die the same way. You do remember I had a brother and he was going to turn into one of those sons of bitches. It ain't right."

"I didn't know about Merle. I just assumed you found his dead body on the roof. Sorry."

"I know we're close to finding them. Just give me a little more time." Daryl walked around the church looking for another door that would lead somewhere else but found nothing. The two of them left the church shining their lights at the ground.

"Can I ask you something?" Andrea spoke up. Daryl didn't say anything but instead found another spot of blood. He bent down and touched it. "Are you so determined to find them because you and Liv are…well, you know, you two spend so much time together I just…" Daryl turned around and glared at her.

"I don't spend all my time with her."

"I just assumed. Sorry." Andrea smirked when Daryl turned around and stood up. "She's cute. I should tell her how determined you were to find her. You might end up losing her to Glenn."

"So? They can have each other. That girl doesn't want anything to do with me. Man I ain't gonna talk about this with you."

"I know behind that frown of yours that you have actual feelings Daryl. Maybe even for Olivia, who knows? Even criminals have some feelings."

"You calling me a criminal?"

"No," Andrea said with a small laugh, the first time in many days. "I just think you might care for her more than you want others to think."

Daryl shook his head and started walking back towards the highway. "Shut up blondie."

The two of them reached the highway and saw Carol's disappointed face. She went back into the RV and Dale climbed down from the top of his RV. He came out to where Daryl and Andrea were standing.

"We found Sophia's doll," Andrea said in a low voice. "Should we tell Carol?" Dale's eyes widened as he looked at the two of them.

"Did you find anything else? Where did you find the doll?"

"It was in a church," she said. "We found some blood drops. Not a lot but enough to make us think one of them is hurt; that is _if_ it's one of them bleeding."

"Maybe we should go find Rick," Dale said. "He has to hear about this."

"It's not even good news," Daryl said. "He's got a kid that's apparently been shot and we still don't have any actual evidence to tell him that his other kid's alright."

"As much as I want to stay here to find them we can't stay here forever," Dale said. He sighed loudly and looked back into the RV. "Maybe this place where Rick's at is safer than this highway. We could always put up a sign for the girls and come back every day for them. We could leave them some food too."

"Alright then," Daryl said after thinking about it for a while, "Who's going to tell that woman in there?"


	9. Holding Onto Something That's Invisible

The group decided to spend one more night on the highway. Andrea broke the news to Carol about leaving in the morning but promised they would come back every day to check if the girls ever came back. Carol shut herself out from everyone and stayed in the back room staring at Sophia's doll.

Daryl kept watch the rest of the night. As much as he wanted to get off that highway he wanted more to go back into the woods. He had a gut feeling that he and Andrea were right on top of them. If they only found that church in the daytime, it would have been easier to see if the tiny amount of blood drops he found and they could have been easier to track. The sun starting coming up and Daryl noticed Dale and Andrea coming out of the RV. He climbed down to join them.

Andrea found something that she could use to write a note on a windshield of a car. She wrote O&S Stay Here. We'll come back for you. Carol placed some food and water on the hood of the car and stared at the note.

"So we leaving now or what?" Daryl asked.

"We can continue our search from the house," Dale said. "If that young lady said it was two miles from here it's not that far. The girls could always end up finding it or start walking in that direction."

"Guess so," Daryl said. He walked to his bike, Dale went back into the RV and Andrea got into one of the few working cars the group found. Daryl started his bike and maneuvered his way through the cars. The group had moved enough cars that it made it easier for Dale to drive through the highway but he still had to bump into a few cars to move them.

Daryl easily found the driveway and when he reached the gate he walked up to it and unlocked it. He opened it to allow Dale and Andrea to drive through it and when they did he locked it again. They drove up the long driveway and soon reached a house. They knew it was the right place when they saw most of the people from their group come out of the small house.

Glenn was the first one to reach Daryl and he immediately frowned. "You couldn't find them?" Daryl turned his bike off and shook his head. "Shit. You think we can continue the search from here?"

"How's the kid?" Daryl asked.

"He's good," Glenn said. "He probably won't die." Dale, Andrea, T-Dog and Carol all came to join Daryl and Glenn.

"How's Rick?" Dale asked. Glenn shook his head and looked down. "Carl's going to be okay though, right?"

"He should be," Glenn repeated again. "Shane and the guy that shot him went to get some supplies for Carl. Hershel, the dude that lives here, saved him." Daryl looked over a Shane who was standing away from everyone else. He looked different. His hair was completely shaved off and he wasn't wearing his usual khaki pants and black shirt.

"Where's Rick at?" Andrea asked. "We found Sophia's doll and we figured he should know."

"You found her doll?" Glenn asked. "How far from the highway?"

"It was a good walk from there," Daryl said. "Found it in a church with a few dead walkers." By this time Rick finally exited the house and he was with an older man, a woman, and the same woman that came on the highway.

Dale went over and embraced Rick quickly. "How you doing? We have all been thinking about Carl."

"Appreciate it," Rick said. "He's going to be okay." Rick looked broken and the usual smile he forced on occasions was no longer seen. He had it worse than Carol now but he wasn't blaming anyone or shutting everyone out. "Any of you find anything after Glenn and T-Dog left?"

"We found Sophia's doll," Daryl spoke up after everyone averted their eyes from Rick. "Some church about a mile or so from the highway. Found three dead walkers shot down. If it was her she's running out of bullets."

"The gun she owns holds 16 rounds. She should still be good if that was them."

"Actually," Glenn spoke up. He cleared his throat and pulled a gun out from the back of his jeans, "She gave me that gun and she had another one."

"She gave you that?" Rick asked. "What the hell does she have then?"

"She has my old Beretta," Shane said as he walked closer to the group. "It had six rounds when I gave it to her. She liked it better than the one you gave her."

"Why would she give that up?" Rick asked. "We need to find her _now_ if that's the case."

"I can go out and look for her," Glenn suggested. "I haven't tried hard enough."

"Yeah, I'm going too," Rick said. He was about to walk inside when Hershel stopped him.

"Rick, you've given too much blood," he said, "Way more than the other two men. You can't go out there in this weather. You'll pass out in five minutes."

"Carl needs you Rick," Shane said. "He's going to want to see your face when he wakes up again. I'll go out with Glenn and Daryl and we'll find them."

"I can't keep sitting on my ass doing nothing," Rick said. "I love both of my kids but Olivia's out there and she's in danger. Carl's going to pull through and we won't be gone long. He's going to want to wake up to her face too. I can't keep lying to him that she's alright."

"Rick, please," Hershel said, "As much as I want you to find your daughter you need to stay inside. After today I won't stop you anymore."

"Listen to the man Rick," Shane said. "We'll get your girl back."

"Daryl and Glenn can go. I don't want you going Shane," Rick said. "You need to rest that leg of yours anyways."

"What happened to your leg?" Andrea asked.

Shane shoved his hands into the large overalls he was wearing. "Had an accident when I went out to get things for Carl. It ain't that bad though, Rick. I can put more pressure on it."

"Just listen to me for once Shane," Rick said.

"I got some pain meds if you need them for your kid," Daryl said. He reached into his bag on the back of his bike and pulled out a bag of pill bottles. He dug around and handed Rick a couple of bottles.

"Appreciate it man. Thank you." He grabbed the bottles, turned away from the group and walked back into the house.

"Guess me and the boy are gonna head out then," Daryl said.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Dale asked. "You haven't gotten much rest and you were out all night."

"Nah, I'm good," Daryl said. "I ain't got anything better to do."

"If y'all are going out then the rest of the group needs to learn how to properly shoot a gun," Shane said. "We got plenty of guns for everyone but only a few of us actually know how to use one. If I have to stay here I want to drive up somewhere quiet to teach everyone."

"I would like to limit the amount of guns lying around my farm," Hershel said. "If you must do what you feel is right than I want the guns to at least be in one spot at all times. Keep them locked up or something." Nobody said a word and Daryl decided it was time to leave. He nodded his head at Glenn and the two of them headed out towards the woods.

"So how are we going to track them from out here?" Glenn asked. "Do you think they made it this far?"

"The church was at least two miles from the highway. And this place is two miles in the other direction. Anything's possible, man."

"I hope they're still alive," Glenn said which caused Daryl to scoff. "What? I love Liv. She's my best friend but I don't know if she can last that long out there with no food, no water and four bullets, or three, whatever it was." He sighed to himself as he gripped the gun Liv had given him a week after they met up. She loved the gun her dad gave her for her 18th birthday but the way Shane's old Beretta shot she preferred it way more. Glenn regretted taking it from her since it currently had all 16 rounds in it while Olivia was left with less than that.

"Y'all are all the same. You got no faith. We're going to find them girls and they are going to be just fine. Everyone needs an adventure like this once in a while."

Glenn laughed, "You call being lost with walkers all over the place an adventure? It's more like a horrible nightmare. I can't even imagine what they're going through."

"Man! Are you going to be whining like this the entire time? They're going to be fine."

"I thought you said you found some blood," Glenn said. He swallowed once and followed Daryl who kept walking deeper into the woods. "Blood is always a bad sign, right?"

"It was a little bit. It wasn't a lot."

"Yeah but if they're bleeding a little bit and haven't had actual food in two days that's even worse, right?"

"You need to relax," Daryl said. Glenn finally stopped asking questions and followed Daryl quietly. The way Daryl had been acting these last few days was different than the Daryl he had met when all of this started. Everyone was different, even Olivia had changed. This end of the world definitely had an effect on everyone.

"You know Rick appreciates you doing this. I told him how hard you've looking for her."

"Not just her."

"It's nice to see you have feelings for people that aren't Merle."

"Shut up. You and the blond one are the same; Annoying as hell."

Glenn laughed, "What do you mean?" Daryl ignored Glenn and kept on walking. Within minutes they found a small cabin. Daryl motioned for Glenn to be quiet and walked closer to the cabin. He opened the door and took in his surroundings. The cabin was completely empty and it looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time.

"Check the upstairs," Daryl said. Glenn nodded his head and walked upstairs. Daryl stood on the lower level and checked everywhere, inside cabinets, inside a small closet and found nothing. He was about to walk upstairs when Glenn came running and almost bumped into him.

"Dude, you gotta check this out," his eyes were big and he ran back up the stairs two at a time with Daryl right behind him. Daryl didn't know what he should be expecting but what Glenn showed him wasn't at all what he was thinking. In front of him was a walker that was hanging by its neck but it was still alive and snarling at the two of them.

"What the fuck?" Daryl said. "Dumbass got infected and didn't even know to shoot himself in the head."

"He doesn't look like he's got any visible bites," Glenn said. He was going to lift the hanging walker's shirt to examine him more when it starting wriggling violently and Glenn was afraid it was going to get loose. "What should we do? Leave it or kill it?"

"Kill the bastard." Daryl got his crossbow, aimed it and shot right at the walker. "Don't want him getting loose and coming after us." Daryl got the chair the walker must have used to stand on and retrieved the arrow from his skull. "Dumb prick." He shook his head and got off the chair. "Guess they ain't here."

"So do we go back or what?" Glenn asked. Daryl did a quick check on the upper floor and started walking down the stairs. "Do you think Hershel's going to let us stay at his place after we find them?"

"Would you let a bunch of strangers stay at your house?"

Glenn shrugged, "Maybe if it was a few of them but there are 11 of us. That's a lot of people."

"Yeah, well we don't need those people. We just need to find Sophia and Olivia and get off of that farm."

"What if Fort Benning's a waste of time? One of Hershel's daughters told me so far no walkers showed up on their land. It seems pretty safe."

"Nowhere is safe," Daryl said. He walked out of the cabin and something caught his eye. He walked over to a bush and noticed a few white roses growing out of it. He fingered the white petal and Glenn stared at him.

"Hey, that's nice," Glenn said. "Maybe I should give that to Liv for her birthday. It's today you know. I wonder what she's doing."

"You should tell her the story behind it," Daryl said, "And she might like it more."

"There's a story behind a flower?" Glenn chuckled thinking what kind of story could be told about a flower. Some man planted it in the ground and it grew, wasn't that it?

"It's a Cherokee Rose," Daryl said. He reached for the stem and cut it at the bottom. He handed that to Glenn and cut another one. "You want to give this to Carol too?"

"Are you going to tell me the story?" Glenn asked. "I just thought it was a pretty flower. Liv always hated getting flowers but I think she'd appreciate this one after everything."

"Let's walk back the other way and see if we find anything," Daryl said.

"Don't you think we should send someone to the highway?" Glenn asked. "Aren't we going to check if they find their way back?"

"We left a note. We'll check it out tomorrow."

They continued their search and right before they reached the farmhouse Glenn decided to ask the question that was most likely on everyone's minds. "What are we going to do if one of them is bit?" Daryl glared down at the ground and look at the rose he held in his hand. "Rick shouldn't take that responsibility of putting down his own kid."

"You volunteering?"

Glenn swallowed and he too looked at the rose he was holding. "I don't think I could do it. I couldn't even kill my own family when I found them. They almost killed me and I did nothing but run from them." He shook his head and continued walking with Daryl who didn't look the slightest bit happy about having this conversation. "She's the closet thing I have to family now and just to imagine her either lying somewhere half dead or already dead…" He gripped the rose tighter and tried to hold back from crying in front of Daryl.

"They're going to be just fine," Daryl repeated for the fourth time. After searching for most of the day, the two of them went back to the farmhouse. Glenn went to his tent and Daryl noticed Rick was sitting by himself on the porch. He went over and sat next to him.

"Didn't find anything, man." Rick nodded his head and kept his eyes on the ground. Daryl wasn't sure what else to say to him.

"Carl's been more alert. He's been asking about the girls." Rick shook his head and let out an unhappy laugh. "I can't even tell him we haven't found them yet. What kind of father am I? I can't even keep my kids safe. They were fine until I came back. Hell, my own kid didn't even listen to me. I told her we can't separate again and what's the first thing she does? She runs."

"You've been fine in my eyes. You're a good person and you raised that girl fine. I don't know a single person who'd risk their life for another person the way she did. I spent some time with her, before you came back, she talked about you a lot."

Rick looked at Daryl finally, "You're kidding right?"

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Rick laughed. "Sure she admitted at times she wanted tell you to go fuck yourself but she looked up to you."

"Did she say anything else?" Rick asked. "Does she… Is she alright? After what happened with your brother? Nobody can kill someone and just be okay with it."

"Of course she ain't alright," Daryl said. "We don't really talk about it but you could always bring it up with her. She cares more about how I feel about it than what she's going through." Daryl cleared his throat and stood up. "I'll, uh, see you around then. Gotta set up camp all over again I guess."

Daryl walked over to where the RV was parked. He saw Carol, Glenn and Dale setting up tents. He saw the one he was using back at their old campground was already set. Carol was standing in front of it.

"I decided to help out more," Carol said. "And the only thing I was useful for was setting up our camp. I wanted it to look just like our old one for when they come back." She smiled quickly at Daryl and was about to walk away when he cleared his throat.

"Thanks," he said quickly. He rolled the stem of the rose between his fingers and looked at it, then up at Carol. He handed her the rose and she took it.

"What's this for?"

"It's a Cherokee Rose. There's a story that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure, disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell."

Carol started crying again except it wasn't the same weeping she had been doing for the past two days; they seemed to be tears of relief. The small rose proved to her now more than ever that she was going to see her daughter once again. She wiped her face and smiled at Daryl again. "Thank you." She took the rose and smiled at Daryl again.

He was glad she didn't lean in for a hug. Daryl walked inside his tent and went to lie down on his sleeping bag. He was going to take a quick nap when Glenn walked in.

"I heard your story about the rose." Daryl rolled his eyes as he continued to lie there. "I think you should tell that story to Liv when she comes back. She'd like it. She might like flowers again if they all had a cool story like that."

"Why are you still here?" Daryl asked when he realized Glenn was still standing in his tent. Glenn quickly left Daryl's tent which allowed Daryl to finally fall asleep. The quick nap he wanted to take went through the night and when he opened his eyes the sun was shining brighter than it was yesterday and he felt the heat.

He sat up and left his tent. Some of the group was sitting around their makeshift table eating breakfast. Andrea was standing on top of the RV with a rifle in her hand.

Daryl grabbed a piece of bacon. He hadn't seen bacon since before all of this started. So far being at this new place was okay as long as he was able to get bacon everyone once in a while.

"Whose idea was it to allow blondie to hold a gun?" he asked.

"She was good yesterday with a gun," Shane said. "I figured she could keep look out today while the rest of us go out. I told her specially not to pop off though if she sees something. We need to use as little ammo as possible especially if we can overtake the walkers."

"Are you sure your leg is alright?" Rick questioned. "It might not hurt to stay back another day."

"It's fine."

"So what's the plan?" Daryl asked. "Partnering up, taking different courses?"

"Yep. I didn't know whether or not to wake you up," Rick said. "You've been out helping so much I was going to give you a break."

"Like I said yesterday, got nothing better to do."

"Alright then, we discussed this while you were in your tent," Rick said, "Me and Shane will take one direction, you can join T-Dog and Glenn."

"I feel like we're walking in circles," Daryl said, "Can't we use something to tag that we've checked in that area?"

"Hershel gave us some of Otis' clothes," Dale said. "I cut most of them up so you guys can tie them around trees or something."

"Uh, guys," Andrea said. She looked through the scope of the rifle out by the driveway. "I think we got a couple walkers."

"Are you sure it ain't Hershel's kids? Saw them head that way a while ago," Shane said.

"They're by the barn," Glenn said. "I think."

"They're coming closer," Andrea said. She was squinting but couldn't get a clear view of who was coming.

"I'll check it out," Daryl volunteered. He had his crossbow and started walking towards where the walkers were.

"Do not shoot," Rick called out to Andrea, "Remember what Shane said." Rick and Shane both started following Daryl.

Daryl was two feet in front of Shane and Rick and when he got closer to the walkers he froze. His crossbow was still aimed at them but he didn't know whether or not he should lower it.

Shane had his gun in hand and walked up to Daryl. "What are you stopping for?" Shane had his gun raised just in case and he too didn't know what to do.

Rick was the last one to realize what was happening. He put his hand to his mouth and bit down on his finger. "Liv?"

The three men looked at the two girls that were in front of them. They were completely dirty, bloody and almost unrecognizable. Sophia was dirty and had a few scrapes on her arms and face but Olivia looked worse. Her clothes were ripped. The bottom of her shirt seemed to have been ripped off and was tied at the bottom of her leg. She was wearing a long flannel shirt used to cover up her bare stomach but it too was ripped and bloody. She was staring back at them breathing raggedly. Nobody knew if they were walkers or not.

Rick was stifling a cry and looked at his daughter. "Baby, please say something."


	10. Pretend That the Past Isn't Real

**Thanks so much for the reviews! I love hearing feedback from you guys so please don't be shy. I took a chance writing those last two chapters differently but apparently it turned out decent enough. The original POV is back now, so enjoy. :)**

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><p>I limped as I took a step forward and looked at Shane who was still pointing his gun at my head, "Why did you cut off your hair? You look ridiculous." My dad closed his eyes and put his hand on his chest while Shane let out the breath he was holding. My dad walked closer and put his arms up to embrace me when something whizzed by my ear.<p>

I assumed it was a giant mosquito or maybe a chigger had managed to grow wings and fly right at me but I realized it wasn't when my dad threw himself completely in front of me causing me to stumble back and fall.

"No! Cover Sophia!" My dad was on his knees and looked down at me. "You're going to be okay." He took my head in his hands and touched the top of my head which had a growing bump from when I fell the other day. "It didn't hit you, did it?" I shook my head and realized that mosquito was actually a bullet. Someone was trying to shoot at me.

"She's bleeding a lot Rick," Shane said. "We need to get her inside now." Shane gently sat me up and started taking off the flannel shirt I was wearing.

"What the hell are you doing?" my dad yelled out.

"Her head is bleeding," Shane said. "Look at that cut on her forehead. You can practically see her skull."

"You're being dramatic," I told him as he gave me the shirt to hold and I held it up to my head. "It's not that bad."

"I got her," Daryl said quickly. He dropped his cross bow and bent down to pick me up. "You're going to be alright. We lucked out and found a doc's house."

"You put on a clean shirt finally," I said. "And I'm getting it all bloody."

"Is that all you care about?" Daryl asked. He looked down at me and kept walking as fast as he could. "Don't ever pull that shit again."

"What are you talking about?" I didn't get my answer from Daryl but instead I heard voices, specifically it sounded like Dale was yelling.

Daryl climbed a few steps and entered the house. All I was hoping for when we reached that driveway was to find an abandon home with some food and water but Sophia and I definitely lucked out finding our group instead.

"Yo, where's the old man?" Daryl called out. He continued carrying me and walked into a kitchen. I saw a few people I didn't know but the one person I did recognized I reached out for her hand.

"I have a surprise for you outside Carol," I told her. She squeezed my hand tightly and her smile widened.

"Thank you Olivia!" She ran her thumb over my hand and started running out of the kitchen.

"Where's the doc?" Daryl asked again.

"I'm right here. What seems to be the… Oh lord. Follow me and put her in my daughter's room." I saw an older man come into the kitchen and he started walking back out. Daryl quickly followed him and we were inside a small bedroom. "Put her down." Daryl carefully put me down and in that swift movement I kept seeing flashes of black. My head was pounding and I felt as if I was going to blackout at any second.

"She's got this bump on her head that's bleeding and I think her legs cut up too, man," Daryl said. "You didn't get bit, did you?" He looked down at my leg and I shook my head.

The older man leaned forward and took the shirt I was holding up to my head. He examined it more closely. "You're Olivia, yes? I'm Hershel. Seems like God's on your side today." He looked up at Daryl, "Get Patricia in here please. We need to stitch her up. And tell one of my daughters to get this girl something to eat."

As soon as Daryl left my dad came into the room and walked over to the bed. He took my hand and squeezed it. A woman came in and I assumed she was Patricia. She smiled down at me and I looked at what she was holding.

"We don't exactly have much to fix you up but we have a little rubbing alcohol. We ran out of medical supplies," she said and my dad quickly cleared his throat, "But we have some pain medication." She handed me a glass of water and gave me two pills. I quickly took them but knew they would have zero effect on me while she cleaned my head and leg.

"Just do whatever you have to," I told her. She was walking closer to me with an open bottle of rubbing alcohol. I cringed at the thought of her pouring that on me. I turned my head and felt her put her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry but I need to clean it," she said. My dad tightened his grip and I squeezed back as Patricia poured some alcohol on the top of my head.

I had the urge to yell out every curse word I knew but I didn't think it was right to be un-lady like in front of this old couple. They would probably end up pinching and prodding me in ways that would further my pain. They didn't look the swearing type at all.

"Where's Carl?" I asked once Patricia wiped the top of my head clean.

"He must be eating," my dad said. "Let's just get you cleaned up and we'll see him."

"Dad, where's Carl?"

"This might be a little uncomfortable," Patricia said. She had the needle in her fingers and I turned back to look at my dad. "It's a very deep cut, hon."

"What happened to your leg?" he questioned. He started untying the piece of my shirt that I had put on there as a tourniquet.

"Walked through some sort of animal trap," I told him. "Hurt like a fucking bitch." Patricia jerked her hand which caused me to groan. "I think I sprained my ankle too."

"Please don't talk right now," she said. Hershel who was watching over Patricia moved to the other side of the bed to look at my leg.

"Can you move it?" he asked.

"Yeah, but it hurts like hell" I told him. "I was practically dragging myself throughout the woods. Sophia tried being my crutch but I'm double her size so that was bullshit." Patricia clicked her tongue and I felt her fingers moving faster. I guess she wasn't big on swearing.

"I'm going to have my daughter make a run out to the pharmacy," Hershel said. "See if she can pick up anything else. We've ran out of a lot of medical supplies."

"Have Glenn go with her," my dad said.

"Wait, I want to see Glenn first."

He looked hesitant to leave my side but he kissed my hand and stood up. He was out of the room for almost a minute and finally I saw Glenn come in with a big smile on his face.

"Look at you, Grimes!" He said. He came around to the other side of the bed and sat next to me. He smiled at me but he seemed to not want to touch me. "You're looking…. Good. A bit dirty but good."

"I'm not going to break Glenn." I leaned close to him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. His grip tightened until Patricia cleared her throat.

"Let me just wrap a bandage around your head," she said, "Actually, on second thought you might need to clean up a bit first before I wrap it. I also need to clean that leg of yours too."

"Jesus Christ, Liv," Glenn said after he released me. He looked down at my leg which only looked worse than it felt. "What the hell happened out there?"

"I don't even think you'd believe me if I told you." I looked down at my right leg which looked completely disgusting. The wire I had stepped on the other day had cut through my boot which stopped it from completely slicing through my leg but it still managed to get cut up to the point where I could barely put any weight on it. Not to mention my ankle burned every time I walked on it which convinced me that it had to been sprained.

"You have a lot of stories, don't you?"

"Not really. I don't even want to think about the shit that I went through."

"Sophia was telling a little bit before she went upstairs with Carol," Glenn said. "I'm assuming you taught her how to swear?"

I laughed and looked at Patricia who was cutting up my skinny jeans to get better access to my leg. "Teach her? That girl already knows how to swear."

"She called you a fucking badass," Glenn said which caused us both to laugh.

"I may have let that word slip a few times. As long as that's all she repeats. Her mom will probably send me back out there if she heard half the words I spat out. Those bitchasses are crazy. Do you know how many times I almost died out there?"

"So you're Liv." I looked at the door and saw a young woman a little older than me standing with a tray of food. "I heard so much about you from Glenn." I looked at Glenn who just smirked. "I'm Maggie, Hershel's daughter."

"Nice to meet you." I looked at the tray she was carrying. I hadn't eaten a proper meal in a while but smelling whatever was on that tray made my stomach churn.

"You need to eat something," Maggie said. "And you and me need to head on out to the pharmacy Glenn. My dad asked for some more stuff."

"How long ago did you cut your leg?" Patricia asked.

I shrugged. "Two days ago, I think. It was about a few miles from the highway. Dude, I literally pumped my fist when we found the highway. I can't believe it was right there the entire time." Glenn laughed and stood up.

"Find as much antibacterial as you can Maggie," Patricia said. "This leg is really infected and I'm almost out of rubbing alcohol and see if you can find some white cloth for bandages."

"You're not going to pour that on me, are you?" Patricia nodded her head and grabbed what little alcohol she had left and poured it right on my leg.

"You're ankle is pretty swollen as well. I think it's best if you stay off your feet for a while," she said, "But you also need to shower. You have a lot of dirt in your wound and it's not helping it any. I'll patch up your head and leg after you get clean."

"You have a working shower?" I questioned. "I don't care where it's at; I will crawl if I have to."

"It's upstairs. Let me get your father." Patricia left quickly.

"If they have candy at the pharmacy I'll get you some," Glenn said. He flashed another grin at me and kissed the top of my head. "I'll be right back."

"Be careful," I told him. I leaned my head back. I was finally alone and started picking at the food Maggie brought. It was good but for a person who hadn't eaten in a few days food was the last thing I wanted to see. I touched my head and started thinking about who in their right mind would shoot at me. Of course they were only trying to protect the camp but if my dad, Shane and Daryl had gone out to take care of it, why would anyone else still bother shooting?

I heard Dale yelling at someone but didn't look to see who. It had to have been T-Dog, Andrea or Carl. I was sure my dad wouldn't allow Carl to shoot without his permission but maybe that's why he was hiding him; so I wouldn't yell at him for being a dumbass.

"Sophia's almost done taking a bath," my dad said as he came in. "So the bathroom will be free."

"She alright?"

He nodded his head. "She's with Carol. I've never seen that woman smile so much." He moved the tray and sat on the bed. "Thank you for keeping her safe."

"No biggie. I wasn't even thinking to be honest. I just ran." He leaned forward for a hug and I wrapped my arms around him. I had never been happier seeing him. This moment even beat when he first came back to the campground we were staying at.

"I'm sorry about everything I said to you." He squeezed even tighter and I could have sworn I heard him sniff. "I just love you so much and I kept beating myself up over everything that happened when I last talked to you."

"Dad, stop." I stopped hugging him and looked him in his eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for. What happened with Shane… that's all in the past. I just don't want you being disappointed in me."

"I'm not," he said. He was shaking his head but I still couldn't believe him. "I just don't want the two people I love and care about being together in that way. He saw you grow up and he still did that. As long as it's in the past I'm willing to forget about it." I saw in his eyes that night how much I disappointed him. He couldn't be so forgiving so quickly. Then again, I had forgiven him for what he said the night before he was shot. It must have been some genetic flaw I had gotten from him. "So, Patricia said you wanted a shower? I can get you up there but, uh, you can manage the rest yourself, right?"

"Dad I'm not three. I remember how to take a shower."

"I just thought with your leg and all," he said. "Maybe a bath would be better?"

"I'd rather not bathe in my own filth. I'll just stand on one foot." He chuckled as he bent down to pick me up. He started walking up the stairs and put me down when we entered the bathroom.

"I'll go grab your bag, get you some clean clothes."

He was about to turn to leave when I stopped him. "I didn't see Carl in the kitchen."

"He's taking a nap in Hershel's room." I stared at him watching his facial expressions.

"No he's not. Dad, where is he…Really."

"Take your shower and I promise I'll tell you everything."

"He's okay though, right?" He nodded his head but that didn't convince me at all. "Dad, he's alive, right?"

"He's alive and fine," he said. "Let me go grab your clothes. I promise I'll tell you everything when you're done."

He shut the door behind him before I could say anything else and left me alone in the bathroom. I stripped out of my clothes and found it difficult to take off my jeans but I managed. I hobbled my way towards the shower and started the water. I stepped in and let the hot water hit my body. I had been dreaming about a hot shower ever since we left the C.D.C. but the water felt ice cold thinking about what could possibly be wrong with Carl.

I was feeling partially responsible for what happened to Carl. What if I hadn't run after Sophia? Would someone else have gotten to her and back quicker than I did? Would she even be alive if I hadn't run after her?

I heard my dad open the door and drop my clothes while I was scrubbing all of the dirt off my body. I took the quickest shower of my life because I wanted to know what was wrong with Carl. I put on my undergarments and shorts and when I opened the door my dad was standing there right when I started pulling my shirt on.

"You going to start talking or should I ask someone else?"

He sighed and looked right at me. "The day after you ran off we split up into groups. Carl went with Shane and me and we saw a deer. Shane was going to put it down but Carl walked up to it. He'd never seen one so close up. Hell, I've never seen one so close… It was all good until some man shot it down and the bullet… It went through the deer and hit Carl." I held onto the towel rack that was by the bathroom door and gasped. Carl was so small. If the bullet had gone through a deer completely how was he even alive? It would have split inside him and that was never good. "He's alright Liv. Hershel saved his life. Shane saved his life too. He risked his life going to get some supplies for Carl."

I felt my breathing was coming out shaky. It felt like I couldn't breathe, "Where is he?"

"He's downstairs. He's been alert but he's been sleeping through most of it which is good. He's fine Liv. Hershel saved him. He just needs to rest. He's going to pull through."

"No. Where is that man? I'm assuming he was the one who brought you here? Where is he?"

"He's dead. When he and Shane went get the stuff, it got messy. Shane said Otis risked his life to allow Shane to get back here. Otis told Shane he had his back and when Shane looked back…" He shook his head. "They got overrun."

I was blinking back tears and limped out into the hallway. "Liv, wait. You can't put weight on that leg." I was right on the top step when I was lifted from my feet. "I'll bring you to him." He carried me down the steps and I quickly wiped my face avoiding everyone's stares. He brought me into another room and opened the door. He put me down in the threshold.

"Liv!" Carl shouted. I held back the tears and limped my way to him. "You found us."

I sat down on his bed and looked at him. He was shirtless with a patch on his stomach. I looked down and touched it gently. "You okay Carl? You're not in pain are you?" He looked so vulnerable sitting there. All I wanted to do was hug him and tell him everything would be okay.

"It still hurts," he said, "But me and dad got matching scars now."

I laughed as I leaned in and hugged him. I kissed the top of his head and cupped his small face. "Clearly getting shot is a Grimes family flaw." I turned around to look at my dad. "Who shot at me anyways? I'd like to spit in their face or something." I shook my head. "One inch to the left and it would have gotten me."

"It was Andrea," he said, "And don't go mouthin' off to her. She made a mistake. She didn't mean to do that."

"She still needs to be told off."

"Daryl did that already. I've never seen him so upset. He took it so personal when you took off. He spent the most time out there looking for you two. I could never thank that man enough for everything he's done."

"Dad, she was trying to kill me. Are you telling me you're not upset? I don't give a shit if Daryl yelled at her; I'm going to tell her off myself. Why would anyone give her a gun? She can't even shoot properly. What if she shot you?"

"So do you have any cool stories?" Carl asked. "You were gone for two whole days. Well three if you count the day you left."

"Unless you want to hear about me falling or me walking into a wire trap then you can ask Sophia."

"You walked into a trap?" Carl asked. He had a wide grin as if I just told him I had tickets to a baseball game. "How can you walk into a trap?"

"It was small. How was I supposed to know it was there? I'm just glad it was me that stepped on it. It would have literally cut off Sophia's ankle if she stepped on it."

"What else happened?" Carl asked.

"I fell off a cliff."

"Cool!"

"That's not cool Carl," my dad interrupted. "What do you mean you fell off a cliff?"

"It was this weird incline and I thought there was ground underneath but I just fell. It was only like 10 to 15 feet and I bumped my head a few times on the way down. That why my face looks like this."

"But you always look this ugly," Carl commented causing me to flick his ear.

"Then I had to climb up it and I tore my shirt and you know how little upper body strength I have."

"What else did you do? Did you kill any walkers?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. The first night we stood in a tent and in the early morning we heard something walking outside. We tried being quiet but it either heard us or smelled us and started shaking the tent. It came in and I bashed the bastard with a cooler." Carl looked completely amazed as if I was telling him a story instead of actual events that I went through. "I also stole his shirt because I was freezing my nonexistent balls off during the night. It came in handy."

"We found that tent," my dad said, "The day after you took off. When were you at the church?"

"Two days ago. After I stepped on that wire I was literally dragging myself and luckily found that church. I killed some walkers but there was more than one so I had to use the gun. Took a long needed rest and started hiking before it got late. Then late yesterday we finally found the highway. I didn't see the RV so we slept in a car and started walking down the highway today. We weren't sure what was going to be behind that fence of the driveway but luckily it was you."

"We were literally behind you the entire time." He shook his head and sighed. "I'm so sorry you went through all that."

"I needed some toughening up. You should have taken me on more camping trips as a kid. I might not have gotten lost so easily."

"When this is all over we'll do that."

"After this is all over the last thing I want to do is spend any more time outdoors. And I never want to see a tent again."

The bedroom door opened and Patricia walked in. "I'd like to wrap your leg and head if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, we'll let Carl get some rest," my dad commented. "You need to get some rest too."

"Can't I just stay in here?"

"You both need your own bed to sleep in," he said as he picked me up once again. He brought me back into the room where I was at earlier and set me on the bed. Patricia started wrapping my head. I winced a few times when she touched the back of my head.

"Maybe you shouldn't fall asleep quite yet," she said. "It hurts every time I touch here, doesn't it?" She had her hand on the back of my head. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had a mild concussion. Just to be safe I'd like you to stay up for a little while. Would you like some coffee?" I shook my head and she started wrapping my leg and ankle. When she was done she left.

"Might need to get your head wrapping changed more often," my dad commented. "It's already bleeding through."

"Do you think you can ask Daryl to come in? I wanted to thank him for everything; especially for telling off Andrea."

"You need to drop it and thank the stars she missed you. Can you promise me you won't fall asleep?" I nodded my head and he left the room. Less than a minute later Daryl popped in and shut the door behind him.

"I'm assuming you haven't seen yourself in a mirror?" he asked. He looked around the room and eventually sat down at the edge of the bed. "You look like shit."

"That's not nice," I said pretending he hurt my feelings. I self-consciously touched the wrapping around my head and knew I probably looked horrible. I shouldn't have asked Daryl to come in so soon. "So what exactly did you mean about never pulling shit like this again? You mad I ignored your hillbilly ass and ran?"

"That's only half the reason," he said. "Why did you kiss me and then run off like that? It's like you knew you were going to die and didn't give a shit."

"You couldn't stop thinking of that kiss, could you?" He didn't say anything which caused me to think he wasn't going to admit anything. "My dad said you were out looking for me. Thank you."

"We all were. It wasn't just me."

"You could have given up and left my dumbass out there," I told him. "Y'all could have just been chasing after nothing. How did you know we would be okay?"

"It was just a gut feeling." He looked down at my leg which was next to his left hand. "Did you walk into a snare or something?"

I shrugged, "It was a wire trap. I never saw it coming." He moved his hand and he fingers gently touched the wrapping around my leg.

"At least you won't be running away for a while."

"Yeah but that means you get to carry me around everywhere." I leaned forward and put my hand over his. "So, is everyone staying inside or are you guys sleeping in your tents outside again?"

"We're sleeping in tents while you and your brother get to live it up like royalty and sleep in beds." He shook his head which caused me to laugh.

"I'm not allowed to sleep so if you want you can take the bed," I told him. "You can sneak in when everyone else is sleeping if you want."

"I think you need the bed more than I do. I'll just tough it out outside again until we leave."

"You don't think we're going to stay here?" I asked.

"I doubt that old man will let us stay here," Daryl said. "There's too many of us. Bet you once you and your brother are healed up we'll be sent out."

"Well maybe I can pretend to be handicapped until the winter is over," I told him. My hand was still on top of his. I scooted closer to him and moved my hand up to his shoulder. I started moving my hand up towards his neck. "You know there were three things I kept thinking about when I was out there to keep me going. I don't regret running after Sophia but—"

"You regret what we did? Or more of what you did to me?"

"No! It's the only thing I've ever done that was spontaneous and that I actually don't regret. I regret how it happened. It was a shitty move to do that and then just run off like that. And I am sorry I didn't listen to you."

"I don't need to get attached to anyone anyways," he said. I pulled him closer, testing him to see if he'd push me away or say anything but he didn't. I stared into his eyes and removed my hand from his neck.

Daryl was different from most of the guys I knew. Any guy would normally close the gap between us or take charge, but not Daryl. He was hard to read and it annoyed me more than anything. But the last thing I wanted him to think was that I was pushy. I had already kissed him once but doing it again seemed silly now. I wasn't sure if he just let me do it or if he was even remotely interested in me. I wanted to straight out ask him but I knew he would do his best at ignoring my questions.

I started moving back from Daryl to lean against the pillow when he put his hand back on my bandaged leg. It was the only part of me he had touched. I looked down at my bare legs and wondered if they were the reasons he wouldn't touch anything else. I put my hand on top of his and moved it to my knee.

"What if your old man walks in?"

"And finds your hand on my knee? I laughed. "He might shoot you in the face," I told him sarcastically. "Is that really what you're so concerned about?" I turned his hand and laced our fingers together.

"I ain't afraid of anything." He squeezed my hand and slowly stood up. "You should probably get some rest."

"I'm not supposed to sleep."

"Then I'll just leave you to your thoughts."

"What am I supposed to do in here by myself?" I asked. "Fine, we don't have to do anything but just don't leave me alone."

He was standing by the door now and he turned to look at me, "You're a very needy person, aren't you?"

"I'm not needy. I'm just…Look you have to admit, that five second kiss, you felt something. Why else would you try so hard to look for us?"

"I had nothing else to do," he replied with a shrug. "And now it looks like I'm going to have to find something else to do." He turned the doorknob and walked out shutting the door behind him.

I groaned loudly and moved my body so I was now lying down. My entire body hurt and I wanted to fall asleep but Patricia was one scary woman. I felt like defying her orders wasn't the smartest move.

But eventually I had fallen asleep. When I woke up the room was dark now with only a desk light illuminating the room. I felt a blanket on top of me. I turned to see someone sitting in a chair by my bedside. I thought it was my dad and I was going to reach out for his hand but I noticed quickly that it wasn't him. It was Shane.

"Wasn't sure whether or not I should wake you up," he spoke quietly. He leaned forward on the chair and put his elbows on his knees.

I sat up in the bed and took the blanket that was placed over me off to the side. "Didn't think you'd come in here." I winced when I moved. My head still hurt and the rest of my body ached with exhaustion.

"You figured your daddy was going to keep me away from you?"

"That was my best guess." I turned my body so my legs were now dangling off the side of the bed. "I figured, well I hoped that you were still holding a grudge after I smacked you."

"You're the last person I'd hold a grudge with." He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his head.

"Why did you cut off your hair?" I asked. I looked up at his bald head and scrunched my face up. "Mourning my death or something?"

"Nah, it ain't like that. It got too hot out here. I needed a change."

I snorted. Shane had become so easy to read ever since I started paying more attention to him. I knew him more than he probably knew himself. "You can lie to everyone else but you don't fool me."

"Are you accusing me of lying to you about cutting my hair? It's just hair."

I shook my head and smirked at him. "Unless you have something else you've lied about?" Shane pursed his lips and stood quiet. "I heard you went on a little adventure of your own. You saved Carl's life too?"

"It was nothing. I love Carl. I'd do anything for him."

"Would you kill for him?" I asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked uptight but tried giving me his best poker face.

"Sounds like you let this man die so you can get back here. Am I right?"

"Now why would you accuse me of that? I'm actually offended you would say something like that."

"I'm not a dumbass Shane. You may have fooled them but I can see right through you. You told me after I killed Merle that I had to forget about it. That you would rather kill than be killed, do you remember that?"

"You're delusional. You bumped your head and the first thing you do when you see me is accuse me of shit I didn't do."

I leaned forward and put my hand on Shane's head. I touched the scar I noticed earlier when he was pointing his gun at me. "You didn't have this before. Are you going to tell me another lie about how you slipped and fell or something?" He shut his eyes, placed his hand over mine and shook his head. "You saved my brother and I'm grateful Shane." He finally opened his eyes to look into mine. "But I'm worried about you. You can't kill people like that. Promise me it won't be one of us next time."

"I could never kill you or Carl."

"Not just us," I told him, "Everyone. We don't kill the living, Shane. It's not right."

"You say that now but we don't know how crazy other people are. We lucked out finding a group we can somewhat trust but everyone ain't like that. I would do anything to protect you guys. You're the only family I have left."

"Promise me you won't kill another living person Shane." I moved my other hand so it was now resting on the other side of his face.

"As long as you don't do anything stupid like this ever again." He took both of my hands and sandwiched them between his. "You might want to stay away from the mirrors in this place. You ain't look like a Georgia peach anymore."

"Shut up." I snatched my hands away from his and moved myself onto the center of the bed. I slowly moved down and grabbed the blanket, placing it over me again. "Now kindly fuck off while I get back to sleep."

"Well since you asked nicely," Shane said. He fixed the blanket and bent down to kiss my head. "I'm gonna wake you up in a while though. Can't have you sleeping so much with a bump on your head; Doc's rules."


	11. As Long As the Wrong Feels Right

**Thanks again for the reviews! So since Daryl's real age is unknown I made him to be 30 in this story, mainly so the age difference isn't so high from Olivia's but then again I made Shane 39 so.. lol. Thanks for reading and and a big thanks to eloquent dreams who reviews each chapter! I do take what you say into consideration so don't be afraid to ask or suggest something. Enjoy :)**

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><p>I had been sleeping on and off for over twelve hours. When I finally stopped sleeping I spent it in bed, eating and playing card games with Sophia. Carol had finally left her side when she realized that there could be no possible way for Sophia to stray away and she left us alone.<p>

Sophia wanted to stay by my side more than anyone else. Those few days we had spent alone with each other brought us closer. I hadn't really talked to her much before this since I really had nothing in common with a 12 year old, but now I knew she was more than just a little girl. She was brave and reminded me a lot of myself when I was her age.

"Since we're alone for once, can I ask you something?" I asked in a low voice. She stopped shuffling the cards and nodded her head. "You remember what I told you right before we came here? If we ever found our group again that what happened out there was going to be our secret."

"Yes. I told my mom what you told me to tell her. She was easy to lie to. She just wanted hug me and stuff. Didn't want to know any details."

"Good."

"What happens if they find out?" she questioned.

"They won't."

We stopped talking when we heard the door open and Glenn walked in. He had his hands behind his back and a huge grin on his face.

"Hello ladies." I nodded my head at him while Sophia announced she had won, again.

"Why don't you go play with Carl," I told her. "He must be itching to get out of that bed." Sophia scooped up the cards and left the room. Glenn walked more into the room and closed the door behind him.

"So if I remember correctly you had a birthday recently," he said. He walked closer and pulled out his left hand which was holding a small paper bag. I looked inside and saw a bottle of alcohol and a white rose. "I know I said I wouldn't drink again but we can at least have one shot. You're no longer a teen! You need to celebrate."

I laughed out loud and grabbed the bottle. "Thank you Glenn. This is the best birthday gift ever."

"That's not all." He moved his right hand forward and I saw he was holding a single crutch. I laughed again and became extremely happy. "Now you can leave the room and use this. It took me a while but Maggie and I found just one in the back of the pharmacy. We have no idea where the second one is. You could always use it as a weapon too since we can't have guns anymore."

"What do you mean we can't have guns anymore?"

"Hershel's farm, Hershel's rules. And after Andrea accidently almost shot you, well everyone was for it until we actually know how to shoot properly."

I scrunched up my face. "Well that's stupid but I guess if we're staying here we have to follow his rules. And he is right. If you guys don't know how to use a gun you shouldn't own one let alone shoot an innocent fucking person."

"It's just Andrea that doesn't know how to use one," Glenn said. "And Carol but I don't think she's interesting in shooting a gun."

"What about the people that live here? Can they shoot? Actually, who the hell even lives here? I've only met Hershel, Patricia and um…"

"Maggie," Glenn said. He smiled which caused me to smirk.

"Right her. Maggie." Glenn smiled again. "She's cute."

"She's alright," he said. He was trying to contain his grin and started looking around the room. "So…"

"Why are you grinning so much?" I questioned.

"Just happy to see you," he said. I rolled my eyes and started opening the bottle in front of me. I took a swig from it and passed him the bottle. "Just one sip. I don't want to be like how I was at the C.D.C." He took the bottle and took a larger sip than I did. "How's your leg anyways?"

He passed me the bottle and I took another swig. "It still hurts of course." I reached for the bag and pulled out the rose. "What's with the flower?"

He took the bottle and took another sip. "When Daryl and I went to look for you we found this. He gave one to Carol; I was going to give this to you as a joke since I know you hate flowers."

"I don't hate flowers. They're just cheesy and a waste of money."

"Anyways it has a story, can you believe that? Daryl said something about Indian mothers would cry over their children that were dead or missing and these flowers would grow where their tears fell."

"Daryl said that?" I asked trying not to laugh at Daryl's softer side. "You're lying."

He took another swig and laughed. "He really did. Or something like that. He said it better of course but I thought that was pretty cool." Glenn was about to take another drink from the bottle when I pulled it away from him.

"You said one sip, remember?"

"Right of course. So since you have any extra leg now, do you want to take a walk? Or is it not a good idea?"

"Sure. My ass hurts from sitting so long." I leaned over the bed and put the bottle between the bed and the dresser. "Hopefully no one finds it." I moved to the edge of the bed and grabbed the crutch.

"When do you think you'll be able to walk like a normal person again?" Glenn asked. He opened the door and walked in front of me.

"I can walk but it just hurts way too much. I'm going to baby it for as long as I can. I want to check on Carl quickly." I walked in the room and saw Carl and Sophia were talking and playing a card game.

"No fair. Why are you out of bed?" Carl asked. "Does that mean I can get up soon too?" I walked towards him and sat at the edge of his bed.

"It's probably too soon kid. I'll ask Hershel."

"But I feel fine now," Carl argued.

"Carl, you were shot. You can't get up just yet. Just enjoy your time sitting on your ass. Also, I heard dad's teaching people how to shoot. If you behave and rest like a good kid I'll talk dad into teaching you."

"Are you lying? Because I doubt dad would let me hold a gun let alone learn to shoot."

"I'll talk to him if he's against it. Dad taught me to shoot when I was 14 and you're only a few years shy. Just play your games and you'll be out of here in no time." I leaned forward to ruffle his hair and Carl scowled. "I'll be back. Did you eat?" He nodded his head and I stood up. Glenn was standing by the door and said his goodbyes to the kids.

We walked outside and came to where our group had set up their tents. I only saw Dale who was standing on top of his RV. He quickly came down when he saw the two of us. He put down his rifle and reached out to hug me.

"It's good to see you sweetheart, and to see you're back on your feet. Are you sure you should be out here so soon though?"

"I'm fine, Dale and isn't Glenn the best?" I gushed looking over at Glenn who was just smirking. "Where is everyone?"

"They went out to Shane's little shooting range. It's a few miles out in the middle of nowhere so they should be safe."

"Good to hear. I hope someone teaches Andrea how to properly shoot." I shook my head while Dale tried to hide his smile.

"Did everyone go?"

"Everyone but Daryl."

"Even Carol went?" Glenn questioned. Dale nodded his head.

The three of us talked for a little while and eventually Dale went to work on his RV again. Glenn wanted to learn more about fixing cars and went to assist Dale. I slowly made my way towards the tents and found Daryl sitting inside of his.

I opened the flap and peeked in, "Aren't you hot in here?"

He looked up quickly and furrowed his brows. "Aren't you supposed to be inside on your bed like a little princess?"

"Aren't you supposed to find something else to do?" I asked. "You actually look bored."

"I am. You shouldn't have come back so soon," Daryl said. I thought for a second he was serious until he actually let out a laugh. I walked inside of his tent and sat next to him on his cot.

"Since when did you get a cot?"

"Those people gave us cots."

"Do you not like them?" I asked.

"I told you I don't like getting attached to anything. Our days are numbered here. You shouldn't get too comfortable."

"Who said I'm getting comfortable?" I started playing around with my crutch when it became too quiet in the tent. "Did Hershel say something about us not being able to stay here long?"

"I wouldn't know." Daryl's hand moved from his knee to the top of my head. He touched the bandage on my forehead softly where I had cut it. "How's your head?"

"It's feeling better; just a minor headache. Patricia's been giving me some pills. Those things work wonders even though it's only been a day."

"Those were Merle's clap pills." He moved his hand lower and tucked a piece of hair that stubbornly refused to stay behind my ear. I was going to reach for his hand when he pulled it away and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I do not need to know about Merle's issues down below," I said. I let out a small laugh and shook my head. "I hope he was the only Dixon brother with that problem?"

"You hope?"

I bit the insides of my cheeks, "That came out wrong, didn't it?"

"It sure did." Daryl dug around his pocket and pulled out something. He put it to his lips and I realized it was a toothpick. "You sure move on fast."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That guy I killed, your boyfriend." I cocked my eyebrow. I hadn't really thought about Dean once ever since the last time I saw him alive. "You moved on from him pretty quickly."

"I assumed he was dead the first time," I said. "Why do you care about him anyways? And why would you care if I moved on from him quick or not?"

He shrugged, "I assumed that kiss was just you being a girl." This time I furrowed my brows. "You know, y'all and your feelings. I figured you were just doing it because you were depressed or something."

"Depressed?" I laughed out loud. "I'm not depressed. I knew what I was doing. Look I know it doesn't look right but that relationship was complete shit now that I think about it. If I keep thinking of the past I'll just feel guilty all the time about not bringing him with us or not being there for him. I don't want to think about that."

"So you're not going to act up like one of them…"

"What the hell are you trying to ask?"

"I'm just asking… you're not going to… Hell I don't even know what I was trying to ask."

"Have you ever had a decent conversation with a female? Or with anyone in general?" I asked. "You're really bad with words."

"I ain't bad with words. I didn't want to come off as an even bigger dick." He removed the toothpick and held it between his thumb and index finger. "You're not clingy, are you?"

I had to resist the urge to laugh so instead I shook my head. "Are you going to get to your point anytime soon?"

"You ain't going around kissing everyone just 'cause you feel like it, are you?"

"No."

"Alright then," Daryl said.

"You're being weird," I told him. I used my crutch to help myself stand up. I had no idea what Daryl's problem was. I wasn't sure if he was actually trying hard to be nice or if he was really this awkward when trying to have a normal conversation. We had talked before and it was actually okay but now after I came back he had barely spent more than five minutes at a time in the same room as me.

"You leaving?" he asked. He too stood up. He moved to the side to allow me to walk past him. I was about to stick my foot outside of the tent when I brought it back in and turned back. I looked at Daryl. His eyes looked bluer then I've ever seen them; maybe they only looked bluer because it's been so long since I had actually seen him and looked into his eyes. He walked forward and I was staring at his eyes and at his lips. I could see his eyes moving up and down almost mimicking my action.

I lifted my hands, wrapped one around his neck and kept my free arm holding on to my crutch for support. I waited a few seconds before I pulled him in and our lips touched. They moved together in sync with each other. I felt his arm wrap around my waist and he pulled me closer to him. His lips were smooth, supple; His bottom lip pursed tightly over mine. I let my crutch fall to the ground and brought my hand up to his head. His free hand caressed my neck and slowly slides up to my cheek. The kiss seemed to last forever but passed way too fast.

I pulled away and I rested my forehead on his, eyes still close. I felt dizzy, but not from the kiss; my head was pounding. I opened my eyes to look at Daryl who was completely emotionless. Typical. I bit my lip to prevent me from kissing Daryl again. I moved my hand that was gripping his hair and put it on his neck. I held on to him, mainly for support, and kissed him one more time on his lips.

I was still wrapped up in my own little world when I heard a few cars pull up and doors starting slamming shut.

"They're back," Daryl said quietly. He removed one of his hands, leaving his arm still wrapped around me. "Should we go outside or…?"

"I'm pretty sure my dad's going to flip his shit when he realizes I'm not in bed." I removed my arms from his neck and bent down to pick up the fallen crutch. I slowly hobbled out of the tent and walked five feet away when Shane popped out of nowhere.

"What are you doing outside?" he questioned. He looked down at my leg which was still wrapped and then to what I was holding in my opposite arm. "Where'd you get that?"

"Glenn brought it back from the pharmacy," I told him. "It beats sitting on my ass until I can walk again."

"Were you in there?" he asked nodding his head over at Daryl's tent.

"Maybe."

He rolled his eyes, "You really need to rest."

"I'm fine Shane." We stood in an awkward silence for a while. "So, you're teaching people how to shoot? Can you teach Carl?"

"Carl wants to learn?"

I shrugged. "He should learn how, Sophia too. We can't let them be unprotected."

"You talk to Carol and I'll talk to your dad."

"Why can't I talk to dad?"

"Carol will listen to you," Shane said, "She wants to do all sort of shit for you but she doesn't want to overwhelm you."

"Anything?"

"If you ask her to wash your hair she probably will," Shane said with a grin. "Just don't abuse the power."

"Why would I do that? I can always make you wash my hair."

Shane leaned in close and said, "I can do more than that if you ask nicely."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed as I started walking away from Shane. I was walking back towards the house when I saw my dad jogging out.

"I wasn't expecting you to be out of bed so soon," he said. He put his hand on my head and kissed where I had cut it. "How are you feeling? Did you eat?"

"Yeah but I got so tired of being in that room."

"You've only been back for less than a day Liv. You just need to rest and heal up."

"Can I ask you something?" He nodded his head and we started walking away from everyone else. We walked towards the porch and sat on the last step. "Has Hershel said anything about how long we're allowed to stay here?"

"What do you mean?"

"This seems like an ideal place to stay. They've got food, water, a generator, all this land… But it seems too good to be true. If this was our home, would you allow so many strangers to live with you?"

"Maybe if they had good intentions; I would help anyone."

"So we're staying?"

"Just focus on healing up. We could have used you out at the shooting range today."

"I'm sure you and Shane were enough."

"You could have been there to show the girls that a girl can shoot properly and not be afraid. Actually, Andrea proved herself today. She did well again." I rolled my eyes. "Maybe you can come out next time, you can show Beth."

"Beth?"

"Hershel's younger daughter. You're staying in her room."

"So, two girls, a wife, anyone else?"

"There's Jimmy, Beth's boyfriend. And Patricia isn't Hershel's wife," my dad said, "She's Otis'."

"I see. Maybe I should be nicer to her. Stop the swearing, you know?"

"Knowing you that is going to be difficult."

"Do you believe Shane?" I asked. I bit my lip and decided to finish my question, "About how Otis died?"

"I got no reason to not believe him. He saved Carl and whatever really happened…" He shook his head. "Shane isn't the murdering type. He's hotheaded and stubborn but he has good intentions. I believe him."

"If you say so," I replied still not convinced.

"You don't believe him?" he asked.

"I just wanted to hear what you had to say. If you believe him, then so do I." I had no intention in believing Shane because I knew he was lying but I wasn't going to hold it against him. Maybe I was being the foolish one and he really was innocent.

"You dropped your gun when we found you," he said randomly. He pulled it from his side holster and held it in his right hand. I was surprised to see he was carrying it and not his python. "Why did you exchange your gun for this?"

"I like the way it shoots," I told him. "Not that there was anything wrong with the one you gave me. I wanted Glenn to have a gun anyways. He told me he could shoot and I figured Shane wasn't going to give Glenn of all people his gun."

He took off the clip and starting removing the bullets. "You were running low." He was holding two bullets. I figured if worst came to worst I could shoot Sophia and myself in the head to avoid turning into monsters. "Why didn't you load up? It holds 10, doesn't it?"

"Shane gave it to me with like five bullets. Blame him."

He started putting the two bullets back in the clip. "He said he gave it to you with six, which is still less than what you shoulda have." He put the gun back in his holster. "I'm just glad you didn't run out."

I was going to complain that my head was hurting and I wanted to go back inside when the door behind us creaked open. We both turned and saw Maggie and Carol standing there.

"Patricia and I were talking about inviting you all inside for dinner tonight," Maggie said, "To have an actual meal. A celebration really. Actually, it was Carol's idea to cook for us but I talked my dad into letting it happen. Are you up to helping out Liv?"

I let out a laugh, "Sorry Maggie. I'm the last person you'd want in your kitchen. I can't even properly cut a carrot or boil water."

"Is there anything you can do?" my dad asked sarcastically. "You get lost, I get that but what did you eat those four months you went to college?"

"I ate McDonalds the first month hence my fat ass. And I can use a microwave pretty good." I used my crutch to help me stand. As soon as I stood up Carol walked forward and wrapped her arms tightly around me.

"I owe you my life for what you did for Sophia," she spoke softly to me. I patted her on her back waiting for her to let go. When she didn't, I squeezed back once and she finally let go. "I'm so glad you had each other. I don't know what I would do without her."

"It's really no problem," I told her. "If I could, I would do it all over again."

"I promise she's never going to run off like that again. So there will be no reason for that but thank you so much." She looked like she was going to give me another hug so I raised the corners of my mouth to smile at her. "If there's anything I can do, please ask." She looked down at my leg and grimaced.

"You really don't owe me anything Carol." I looked down at my dad who raised his eyebrow. "I could help you and Sophia out with the gun practice though. I'm not as good as my dad but it's just about shooting and aiming." I looked down at my dad, "Right?"

"It's more to it than that," he said as he stood up, "But it's a start. Are you okay with Sophia learning how to shoot?"

Carol nodded her head, "As long as Carl comes along?" I looked at my dad who nodded his head in agreement. "That's fine then." She smiled once more and walked back into the house.

"I'm going to check on Carl," my dad announced leaving Maggie and I alone.

"You and Glenn are good friends right?" she asked. She caught me off guard asking that so I just nodded. "He talks a lot about you."

"Sorry to hear that."

"No," she said quickly, "It's kind of cute. I thought for a second you two were, you know, together with the stuff he says about you…"

I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck, "Is that a hint of jealousy I hear in your voice? Glenn and I are just friends. This whole world ending brought us closer together. I don't know what I would do without him."

I saw Maggie blush and scratch her neck, "No, I'm not jealous. I was just wondering but now I know y'all are just friends."

"He's a good guy. And the way he lights up when I mention your name… it's almost worth barfing over."

"He told you, didn't he?" she blurted out. I furrowed my eyebrows while Maggie scoffed.

"He told me what?"

"Don't cover for him." I was still confused and Maggie noticed my confused look. "He didn't tell you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Maggie. He told me about you guys looking for the crutch but that's about it."

"Oh, right, never mind then," she said quickly. "I need to go help Patricia and Carol with dinner. I'll see you soon. It's almost ready." She was quicker than me and turned back inside before I could even reach out to pull her arm.

I was going to follow her back into the house when I decided I really wasn't going to get anything more from her. Instead I slowly started making my way towards where our group was camped. I saw Glenn was still with Dale.

I was slowly making my way towards them when I was blocked by Andrea. I was staring at her with very little emotion. I still had no intention in forgiving her so soon.

"I'm glad to see you're out of bed," she said softly. I stared at her and then at Glenn. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm so sorry about what happened." I looked over her shoulder at Shane who was staring at the two of us, looking ready to jump in at any second.

"Okay Andrea."

"I really am sorry Liv." She uncrossed her arms and held them at her sides. "I am just so relived I missed."

"And what would you do if you hit me?" I questioned. "What if you hadn't missed? Would you tell my father how sorry you were?" I looked back at Shane who was shaking his head. I sighed.

She looked taken aback, "I—"

"You were just protecting the camp?" I asked. She nodded her head. "If you can't shoot properly who in their right mind allowed you to hold a gun?"

"We were at a shooting range the day before," she said quickly, "Shane thought I was decent." My eyes moved back to Shane who turned away quickly before I could glare at him, "I promise you I won't hold another gun until I can shoot well."

"How were you today?" I asked.

"I did better, but I'm not so good with moving objects."

"Well, make sure you get better with that then," I told her. "Don't want to completely miss a walker's head now do we?" I winked at her and started walking towards Glenn and Dale.

"That turned out better than I expected," Glenn said. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and moved away from Dale.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I was talking to Maggie earlier," I started telling him. Glenn swallowed once and avoided eye contact with me quickly. "Okay, what the hell is going on? You're both acting weird."

"I did not say anything," Glenn said defensively. "You're being weird."

"I know you like her. You don't have to hide that Glenn."

"It's no big deal Liv. She's just…" he cleared his throat and started leading me away from everyone else. "I really thought I lost you when you left. I had little faith and Daryl was the only one that kept convincing us we'd find you. I still don't even get why Daryl of all people had so much faith." He cleared his throat again, "Anyways, I was just lost and I felt lonely and well… I know you're back and all but I just don't want to lose you again. I told Maggie this and well…"

"So you don't want to lose me so you have a crush on the first girl you see?" I asked. "Glenn, you're cute and all but…"

"No we had sex in the pharmacy."

My eyes widened. I was not expecting that. "Wow. I was not expecting that. I just thought she liked you and you were being stupid talking about me all the time and she didn't like that but wow. She thought you ran and told me first thing, I'm kind of hurt you didn't." I pouted jokingly which caused Glenn to playfully push me.

"No you're not," Glenn said.

I laughed and put my arm around his shoulders, "I'm not hurt. I'm happy for you that you won't spend your last days alone. Just make sure you don't knock her up."

"I was going to spare you minor details but you don't need to worry about it."

"I'm not even going to ask," I said laughing.

"Well now that I told you that, do you have anything you'd like to get off your chest?"

"Like?"

"Like why Daryl had more faith in finding you than your actual friend that has known you longer?"

I shrugged, "Why don't you ask him?"

"I told him it was nice seeing he had a softer side to him than being a complete ass all the time and he told me to shut up. He got really defensive."

"Well obviously," I said quickly, "You questioned his manhood." Glenn snorted which made me laugh.

"Are you sure you're telling me the truth?"

"Well we haven't moved as fast as you and Maggie," I told him truthfully.

"So you two have done something?" he asked.

"Nope." I thought back to when I had kissed Daryl. I wanted to go back to his tent to do it again. Glenn squinted his eyes at me. I was obviously lying but I felt like I was a better liar than he was. I smiled at him and started leading him back towards the tents. "So your girlfriend is making us dinner."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Your sex buddy?" I asked a little too loudly. Dale quickly turned around and looked flabbergasted. "Um. I meant…"

"What you two do is none of my business," Dale said quickly with his hands up. "Just make sure your father doesn't find out."

"I wasn't talking about me and Glenn," I told him. "Why does everyone think you and I are more than buds?"

"Probably sleeping in the same tent didn't help."

"Carl was in the tent with us," I told him. I looked at Dale, "Oh my God. Do people really think Glenn and I are…Ew."

Glenn was shaking his head. "You're not a nice person." My head was pounding again and I started rubbing it hoping the pain would go away. It had been bothering me a lot today but right now the pain was close to unbearable. "Are you alright? You've been in the sun too much; maybe it's time we headed inside."

I started feeling dizzy and clutched my crutch tightly. "I just need to sit down." I hadn't realized I was falling back until I felt Glenn's arms around me. Everything was getting fuzzy and my hearing started to tunnel out.

I opened my eyes and noticed right away I was back in Beth's room. My head was still pounding and I closed my eyes again, groaning loudly. I noticed Hershel was sitting in the chair by my bed when I opened my eyes again. I was taken aback, completely not expecting him of all people to be sitting by my bedside.

"I wish you weren't so stubborn and actually stayed in bed today."

I groaned again as I sat him with his help. "I'm really bad at sitting in bed all day."

"I was looking at your head while you slept. Your father said you fell and hit it?"

"Yeah, well I hit it a few times falling down but the front took the biggest impact."

"Must have been a big fall. I noticed you had a few small bumps in the back. I really want you resting. There's nothing much I can give you besides the medication your friend has provided but rest is what you need."

"Fine," I agreed. "But just for the night. Wait, I missed dinner, didn't I?"

"They're still eating," Hershel said. "I skipped out early to check on you. I can bring you a plate if you'd like."

"Maybe later," I told him. "Thank you for taking care of my brother. I don't know what my dad would do if he lost Carl."

Hershel stood up and patted me on my arm. "I'm just glad that I was able to help him. Now if only you were like him and stayed in bed." He flashed me a quick smile and started towards the door, "I'll have someone bring you in some food. Get some rest Olivia." He opened the door and walked out of it.

I started rubbing my temples furiously. I wanted the pain to go away. I wanted the memories of how I hurt my head to all go away. I shut my eyes again hoping to fall asleep when the door opened.

"You scared the shit out of me," Glenn said. He was holding a plate full of food and closed the door behind him. "I don't care what you say but you're staying in bed tomorrow."

"Staying in bed is for pussies," I told him. "It's just a headache."

"I saw earlier when Hershel was unwrapping your bandage. You have a huge gash on your head. I thought it was cut up I didn't know it was that big and deep and gross." He put the plate of food down and sat on my bed. "Just rest. Nothing is happening out here so far."

"Yeah, so far. It's almost too perfect here."

"It is," Glenn said, "Don't jinx it though." I rolled my eyes and reached over and grabbed a hardboiled egg. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that me and Maggie are going to…" He wiggled his eyebrow and I stopped chewing the egg.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked. I didn't need to know about Glenn and what his plans were for that night.

"Just wanted you to know," he said, "And it's going to in the barn."

"First a pharmacy, now the barn. You two are two for two in kinky sex locations." I was shaking my head and continued to eat the egg.

"It's no worse than you and Dean in the kitchen at work. People worked there and that was just plain gross."

"Have fun then."

"Oh I will," Glenn replied as he stood up, "Plus I just wanted to tell you to rest. The part about me and Maggie was just to see if you were paying attention. Good night."

Glenn walked out of the room and I finished my egg. I slid down so I was lying on my back. I heard the doorknob turning and I shut my eyes. I heard two sets of footsteps walk in the room.

"She's asleep again," I heard my dad's voice. I heard him sigh. "What if she doesn't get better? Hershel can only heal her from the outside, what if there's something wrong inside?"

"She's going to be fine." It was Shane who was whispering back to him. "She's a tough kid. It was probably the heat. She just needs to stay put and take it easy."

"Did she tell you what happened to her?" my dad asked. "It just didn't feel right. You saw how bloody she was. She told me she fell off this cliff but it just doesn't sound right."

"You think she left something out?" Shane asked. "Why would she lie?"

"Who knows? She was even asking me about you and Otis. She thinks you're lying."

Shane laughed, "She told me that. It's crazy."

I heard footsteps again. "When she gets better, you're going to stay away from her. I don't know what drove her straight into your arms but it's over." I was waiting for Shane to say something but he never did. "I ought to break your neck for touching her."

"Why haven't you?" Shane asked.

"We should let her get some sleep. I don't want her waking up and listening to this conversation." I heard the footsteps again and they both left the room. I continued to lie there with my eyes shut just in case. My dad thinks I'm lying; I think Shane's lying, what have we all become that we can't even keep a story straight and we have to turn to lying?


	12. Some Things Are Best Kept Secret

**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to get this out. So much has been happening. But I am glad school is almost over so that will free up some time. I will try to get the next one out sooner. Enjoy! x**

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><p>Night turned into day and I had gotten very little sleep after my dad and Shane left. Between the pain in my head and the nightmares I had, I barely gotten any sleep. I wondered if Patricia had slipped in a sleeping pill since the previous night I slept like a baby.<p>

My dad was in the room now. I tried pretending I was still asleep but it was no use. I turned my head towards him as he sat on the chair by my bedside. "Can you rub my back like you used to?"

He stood up and sat at the edge of the bed. He let out a short breath from his nose and started rubbing my back as he used to do many times when I was little. "I remember the last time I did this like it was yesterday." He continued to rub my back and I felt sleepy right away. "You threw your biggest tantrum that night saying you were too old for backrubs. I think it was that night when I wanted another kid."

I smiled to myself at the memory. It was one of the first tantrums of many I had thrown since then. I wanted to go back to those days when everything was simple; Two loving parents all to myself and no walkers.

I woke up from another nightmare in the late afternoon to an empty room. I had enough of lying in bed and decided to get up. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and started moving my foot in circles. It still hurt but not as bad as the last few days. I found the crutch on the ground, picked it up and used it to walk out of the room. I bumped into Maggie who scoffed and walked away from me as fast as she could.

I stared at her back as she trudged up the stairs. She must not have enjoyed the barn sex as much as Glenn was hoping. There wasn't any way I could go after her so I started walking towards the kitchen.

Patricia was sitting at the table with a young blond girl, probably Beth. They both turned and only Beth smiled. "You're on your feet again. I'm Beth." She smiled again and I smiled back.

"How's your head?" Patricia questioned. She quickly stood up and walked over towards the counter. She reached for a pill bottle and opened it. "Take one more and eat something. I've noticed that you haven't been eating. Your father says you're not on any sort of diet…"

"…but then again why would you be," Beth said. "With the whole situation and what's going on." Patricia looked down at Beth and held her hand out towards me handing me a pill.

"There's nothing wrong with your food," I told her taking the pill and holding them in my hand, "I'm just not as hungry as I thought I would be."

Patricia grabbed a glass from the cabinet and walked over towards the refrigerator. She poured orange juice into it and handed it to me. "At least drink this." I took the glass from her and swallowed the pill. I wiped my mouth and handed her the glass back.

"Thank you," I told her. "Not just for this, but you know, for everything you've done for Carl and stuff." I hesitated for a second, "And I didn't know your husband but I'm sorry about him."

She took the glass and quickly walked towards the sink. Beth smiled for a split second and looked at Patricia's back. She walked over to her and started rubbing her back gently. I took that as my cue to leave. I looked at the two of them once more and walked out of the kitchen and towards Carl's room. He was sitting up on his bed. He was looking better as the days went on, he looked less pale and in less pain than the first day I saw him.

"I thought you were supposed to stay in bed like me," he said. I shrugged my shoulders. He knew better that I don't ever listen to doctor's orders. "Want to see my cool scar?"

"Not really."

"Are you going to have an ugly scar on your forehead?" he asked. He leaned forward and put his small hand on my forehead, looking straight at it. "You're going to have to wear your hair covering your face like that guy from the Adams Family." He looked down at my leg. "And you're probably never going to wear shorts again when you take that bandage off. That'll leave another ugly scar. And you'll probably never walk right again."

I frowned at him. "Shut up Carl."

He had a large grin on his face as I stood up. I had the urge to flip him off but that wouldn't make me feel better. Of all people Carl was the only one who knew all of my insecurities I had yet he still continued to push my buttons. I thought back to this morning what my dad said. I wondered if I would have let my parents rub my back for a few more years if Carl would have been born. As harsh as it sounds maybe things would be better without Carl. He had a fairly good childhood but his teen years are going to be full of fear and death all around him; if he even survives that long.

I walked out of the house and made my way towards where the camp was set up. Nobody was around and I assumed they had gone out to Shane's gun practice. I found myself entering Daryl's tent to see if he was in there.

"You don't listen, do you?"

I shook my head and sat down next to him. "If I stay in that bed you don't bother visiting me. It's like you have a phobia stepping foot inside that house."

"How do you know?" he questioned. "You spend all your time sleepin'."

"So you do visit."

"Just once this mornin'," Daryl said. "You were tossin' 'n' turnin' in your sleep so I left."

"Nightmares," I told him simply.

"With all the shit you've seen I'm not surprised."

"How come you never asked me what happened when I was gone?"

"You shouldn't have to relive it all over again." His hand went up towards the bandage and his fingers slowly glided over the large cut under it.

"Well that was nice of you. I wish you were like this all the time."

"Just 'cause I didn't ask you then doesn't mean I won't. You can tell me another time," he spoke softly. His hand moved down to my neck and pulled me closer to him. He brought his lips up to my head and held them there for a few seconds. He removed his lips and moved my hair that I purposely kept combing with my fingers forward to hide the cuts on the side of my face. When he moved my hair back his fingers brushed over the large scratches on the back of my neck.

Before he could say anything, I leaned forward. I wanted our lips touching once again but before that could happen I slowly backed away when I heard footsteps and soon the tent flap opened.

"You're outside again." It was Glenn. Of course he would be the one interrupting me. I really didn't want to hear about his night last night so I just glared at him. "Oh, hi." His shifted around the outside of the tent and he looked as if something was bothering him.

"What's up Glenn?"

"I didn't know you were busy," he said quickly. He cleared his throat and leaned back. "I'll just talk to you later."

"I'm not busy," I told him quickly. "But if this is about Maggie or something then I don't care." Glenn started at Daryl and pursed his lips tightly.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you later."

"You tryin' to kick me out of my own tent?" Daryl asked. "If you wanted personal time with each other, just say."

"No. No, no I am not." Glenn cleared his throat again. "I'll just, you know, be out here, doing something else. Actually, forget about it. I just wanted to see how you are. You're looking good, again. Those cuts are healing up nicely. Yeah, I'll see you later." Glenn quickly shut the tent flap and I heard his footsteps walk away quickly.

"I think the Chinaman's getting too much sun."

I let out a breath through my nose and started laughing. "I think you're intimidating to him." I rolled my eyes and forced myself to stand up. "I have to see what he's trying to tell me. He probably wants relationship advice." I laughed at my own joke and Daryl stared at me with his brows furrowed.

"So go."

"You don't need to be so snappy about it."

"Wasn't being snappy."

"I really don't have to go," I told him, "I mean if you want me to stay just say something."

"You shouldn't keep putting weight on your leg." He cocked his head to the side and his eyes were focused on my leg.

"I'm fine," I told him trying to contain myself from shouting at him. I was getting tired of people asking me how I felt or whether or not I should be out of bed. It would be my own fault if I never walk normal again or if I cause even more damage to myself.

"How about that story then." He crossed his leg so his foot was resting on his knee. "I got nothing but time now. Plus I want to know how you messed up your leg so badly. Who the hell walks into a trap? Don't you use your eyes?"

"I'd rather talk to Glenn."

I started walking out of the tent when Daryl quickly grabbed the crutch from under my arm. "He said it wasn't a big deal."

"Didn't you just say I shouldn't have to relive what happened out there; because I really do not want to think about what we went through out there let alone talk about it. You need to drop it."

"You're both alive, ain't ya? You should be happy about just that. It's not like y'all got bit."

"I'll be back later," I told him. I stuck my hand out expecting him to give my crutch back. He frowned and pushed it forward; I grabbed it and moved closer to him. I leaned down and kissed him on his cheek. I turned to leave his tent.

I tried to ignore how weird Daryl had been getting these last few days. He was worse than a pre-teen boy trying to express his feelings. As I looked for Glenn I decided then and there not to push Daryl too much. Maybe he was just trying to be nice and not push me away whenever I got too close to him. But then again just now in the tent he was the one who started being all touchy. Daryl was a really confusing person.

Glenn wasn't in his tent nor was he outside of the RV. My last hope was inside the RV. I opened the door and walked in. Dale was standing with his arms crossed staring at Glenn who was sitting at the small table.

"Am I interrupting something?" I questioned.

Dale smiled and shook his head, "Not at all. Maybe you can get Glenn to say something though." He looked down at Glenn who was fiddling his thumbs and avoiding eye contact with the two of us. "He's been saying he wants to say something but he hasn't said anything."

Dale moved to the side as I walked by him and sat down across from Glenn. "You didn't…" I cleared my throat and looked at Dale quickly. "That girl situation you were talking about…"

"He knows about me and Maggie," Glenn spoke quietly. I was surprised he had told Dale about him and Maggie.

My lips formed into an 'O' shape. "Oh, well you didn't knock her up did you?"

"No."

"You're not…" I stopped speaking. Glenn and I were close but what I wanted to ask wasn't a question close friends normally ask one another, especially in front of an older man who we barely knew. "You guys aren't, like, you didn't get like crabs or something?"

Glenn finally popped his head up and Dale stared intently at Glenn. "No! I don't have crabs. We used condoms and… Well…" He sighed loudly, looked up at Dale and then at me. He hesitated for a second, opening and closing his mouth. "There are a shitload of walkers in the barn." It became eerily quiet inside the RV. Nobody spoke and I don't even think my brain wanted to comprehend what Glenn just said.

"Please tell me that's young talk for some sort of STI," Dale said quickly. He was quick to respond because I had yet to come up with nothing. My mouth must have been opened as I stared at Glenn. I tried forming words but it was useless. I was speechless for once in my life. There were actual walkers locked up feet away from where our group slept? It was completely ridiculous to imagine why anyone would do that.

"Maggie said Hershel is keeping them in there," Glenn spoke. "He thinks they're just sick and there's going to be a cure. Then she said I better not tell anyone and stopped talking to me."

"Nobody knows? Just us?" I asked. Glenn shook his head while Dale looked flabbergasted. "What. The. Fuck." Hershel didn't look the type to have a barn full of walkers. We really do not know the people we trust so much as well as we thought. Did he really think they were sick or was he the sick one? Would he turn the walkers loose on us if he felt like it? I felt like there was seriously nobody we can trust anymore. My first instinct was to tell everyone so we can leave but I knew it wasn't a good idea.

"That's what I was saying. Maggie got pissed off and she doesn't want me telling anyone but how can I not tell anyone? It isn't right to keep this a secret."

"You tell people and they're going to start flipping out," I told him. "Shane's going to go ape shit and Andrea's probably going to turn into Lara Croft and shoot them all and miss horribly. Shit, she might even shoot one of us."

"So, what, don't tell them? You need to tell your dad, Liv."

"Why me? You tell him. You're the one that found out."

"He'll probably hit me. He wants to stay here," Glenn said, "Well, we all kinda do. It's perfect here."

"Then this is going to be a problem," I told him. "There are walkers in a barn and our instinct is to kill them but this is Hershel's farm. We can't disobey his rules. If we tell them all hell is going to break loose. This place isn't safe anymore."

"I'll talk to Hershel," Dale volunteered. "Before you two say anything to anyone else."

"Glenn can't hold water," I said. Glenn leaned over and smacked my arm, "What? You can't. You're like a girl with secrets."

"You shouldn't have secrets," Glenn snapped. "We shouldn't be lying to each other. We're supposed to be a family of sorts. I know you're always lying to people Liv but this is completely different. This is our lives at stake."

"He's right," I sighed looking up at Dale. "I can't lie to my dad anymore. It doesn't feel right. He has to know. But one look at your face Glenn and he's going to know something is up."

"My face? Look at yours. I think you actually lost your summer tan."

"Give me time to talk to Hershel," Dale said once again. "I want him to know what we know and what the rest of the group will do when they find out."

"He's going to kick us out," Glenn muttered.

"So what?" I told him. "This farm wasn't a part of our original plan. Fort Benning, remember? We still have that. It's not safe here anymore. We don't know what else there is out there in those woods. There could be even more walkers or horrible people or who knows what."

"What are you talking about? When we went out in those woods we didn't see much of anything. And we've been safe here. Who knows what danger lies ahead if we leave? Plus, I kinda like staying here and Maggie... I don't want to leave her behind."

I had to resist rolling my eyes. "She's mad at you," I told him, "So this makes it easier to leave." Glenn glared at me. "Fine. I didn't mean that." I ran my tongue over my teeth and finally looked at Dale. "Talk to Hershel then. We'll keep this between us for another night, but that's it."

Dale left the RV and there was an awkward silence between the two of us. "Do you think Daryl's a pansy around chicks or do you think I'm just way too pretty for him?"

"Was that a serious question?" Glenn shook his head and remained expressionless. I knew he was bothered about this situation but he didn't have to be such a jerk.

"I'm just trying to ease the tension. I've been avoiding mirrors ever since I came here because I know I look like shit."

"You're too flirty for him. He's probably used to 40 year olds not 18 year olds. And stop worrying about your face. Cuts heal and you'll go back to being the best looking person in the group." I scoffed loudly.

"I'm _20_ and Daryl's 30. I'm pretty sure 10 years isn't that big of a deal. Wasn't your dad seven years older than your mom?" I realized I used the past tense and Glenn clenched his jaw. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

"It's fine."

"How secure do you think that barn is?" I asked after a good minute of complete silence.

"It looks secure to me," Glenn said. "But it still scares the shit out of me that there are a lot of them right there." He started biting his thumb nail and finally looked up. "I'm sorry I took you away from Daryl and telling you about this."

"You can tell me anything, Glenn. It's just a lot to take in and I'm trying to lighten the mood but it's obviously not working."

"What if we don't tell everyone?" Glenn asked. "What if we do what you suggested and just leave? That way nobody will ever know."

"That's the most convenient thing to do but I don't know if I'd feel right. What if they broke out and killed Hershel and everyone else? Hershel told you guys to put away the guns. He probably doesn't even own a gun himself. And how am I supposed to convince my dad to just let us leave?"

"Tell him you can walk. All we have to do is wait for Carl to heal up now. It should be any day now. He looks better. How long does it take to heal from a gunshot wound anyways? Like a week?"

I shrugged my shoulders unsure of how long it will take Carl to heal from his wound. "I don't know how long will that be. I told Dale that tomorrow we have to say something." Glenn sighed to himself and put his head on the table. I reached out for his hand and held it. "It's going to be okay."

He squeezed back and kept his head glued to the table. "Why did Jenner have to be a dick and blow up the C.D.C? It was perfect there. We could have lived in the dark with some candles. All we did was sleep and your face didn't look like that and I didn't know Maggie, and there wasn't a fuckton of walkers in a barn thirty feet away from where we're sleeping."

"You really like her don't you?"

He looked up and nodded. "She's great."

"I'm happy for you," I told him as the door to the RV opened.

"Don't be."

I heard a familiar sigh and turned to see my dad standing at the entrance. "Should I even ask how you're feeling?"

"Of course not." I removed my grip on Glenn's hand and forced a fake smile. "I can probably even beat you in a foot race."

"Doubt that," he replied. "You two alright?"

Glenn nodded his head slowly. "We're fine," I told him convincingly.

He walked over and sat next to me at the table. "If you're not going to rest, do you want to come up to our little gun range tomorrow? It would be nice to have you both come. Maybe we can get Carl to come. He looks ready to get out of that bed."

"Maybe some other time," I told him. Glenn started fidgeting where he sat and I glared at him. "Glenn, didn't Dale say he needed your help?"

"Oh, yeah." He stood up and walked out of the RV. I was worried about Glenn. He was going to spill the beans at any second. I wanted to keep an eye on him in case he blabbed but I also didn't want him around my dad.

"Don't you think we should leave?" I questioned. "And stick with our old plan?"

"Why do you want to leave here so much? Don't you want to stay here?"

"And what, grow old? It just doesn't feel right mooching off these people. If nobody else wants to go, that's fine; just you, me and Carl can go. Maybe we can find an abandon house and fix it up."

"You aren't in any shape to be moving around just yet, same with Carl. We all need this. Just give it some time."

I turned my head, "We aren't safe here dad. I just really want to go."

"We're not going anywhere," he said firmly. "What are you afraid of? What happened to you out there that got you so shaken up?"

"I'm not shaken up," I told him defensively.

"Then what's wrong? What aren't you telling me?"

"It's nothing dad. It's probably just the pills I've been taking."

"You know you can tell me anything," he said. "I hope it's nothing serious. It has nothing to do with Shane, does it?"

"It's nothing," I said patting his arm. "Those walkers that Sophia and I saw just scare me and I don't want to ever see one again." I thought if I was going to keep up this act I might as well take it all the way. I pouted my lip and tried to look upset, which was easy because thinking about all those walkers in the barn really did scare me.

"Well, I can't promise you that but maybe if we stay here I can try to make sure that you'll always be safe."

"Can you just consider leaving?" I asked.

He sighed loudly and stood up. He looked down, "We're not leaving Olivia; No matter what you say or Hershel or anyone else. Going back out there isn't safe. It's sending us back to our death. I can't protect Carl and you out there but here we have a chance. Whatever your problem is with the people on this farm or anyone else, you need to squash it. I can't have my kid against me or what I think is right. Everyone is going to question everything I suggest."

"Fine." I was staring straight where Glenn was sitting, avoiding my dad's gaze completely.

"You're going to drop it?"

I nodded my head. "I won't bring it up again." He bent down and kissed the top of my head. I really wanted to tell him about the barn and the walkers but I know both Dale and Glenn would be upset that _I_ was the one that told first.

He turned to leave the RV and I was left alone. I leaned my head back and sighed. It wasn't only the walkers I was afraid of but I couldn't find myself telling the truth to anyone just yet. I picked up my crutch and walked out of the RV. I saw Carol was cooking a meal over a campfire while Sophia sat in a chair next to T-Dog and Andrea.

"Hey Sophia," I called out to her. "You got a second?" She quickly stood up and walked over to me. I saw Carol look over at us and smiled at her, "Do you mind if I borrow her for a second? I wanted to show her something in the RV." She nodded her head and went back to her cooking while Sophia and I walked into the RV.

"Are you okay?" she asked. We walked over to where I was sitting seconds ago and I made sure the door was shut.

"I need to ask you something." She nodded her head. "Do you like it here?"

"It's okay," she said quietly. "I liked sleeping in a bed the first night but since I'm not hurt like you I'm back outside."

"Do you want to stay here?"

She shrugged her shoulders, unsure of how to answer. I knew it wasn't right to ask her this but she was the only one I wanted to hear her honest opinion. "I like it here but sometimes I can't sleep. I wake up in the middle of the night and I don't want to scare my mom but…" She looked out towards the window. "I'm still afraid."

"Me too."

Her eyes widened, "Really?" She looked relieved to hear that I wasn't as brave as she put me up to be or how I pretended to be. "But aren't we in the middle of nowhere? It took us this long to find this house, what if…"

"Sophia, we can't 'what if' everything. Either we're safe here or we're not. Do you want to stay here forever?" She scrunched up her face. "You don't have to answer right away if you're not sure. I just wanted to ask."

"I do want to stay," she said slowly, "But then again I don't. What if—" Sophia stopped talking when we both heard the door open. We both glanced over and saw Shane come in.

"What are y'all doing, swappin' stories? Sharin' secrets?" he asked. I turned to look at Sophia again. "I guess you are."

"Yeah, so it would be nice if you left," I told him.

"I just need to put the bag of guns back under the table." He crotched down and stuffed the bag he was holding under the table. He shoved it as far as his arm could reach and stood up. "You mind if I sit?"

"Would you stay if I said yes?"

"Yep." He bent down so our hips were parallel which caused me to move away from him. "Sophia, you did pretty good out there today." I saw him beaming at her. "You shoulda seen her Liv. Reminded me of you when you were her age."

"Sophia, maybe you should go. We can finish this later," I told her.

"Okay," she said in a low voice. She smiled at Shane and walked out of the RV.

"You can move now," I told him. "There's a thing called personal space and you need to take a shower."

He stood up and took off his shirt. I rolled my eyes and put my legs on the chair so he wouldn't sit down again. "That wasn't necessary."

"I know. I just love to see you freeze up like you've never seen a man's body before. We probably got a few minutes before anyone comes back in here."

"You're gross."

"You weren't saying that a few weeks ago. What was it you said, something about liking me without a shirt? I could have sworn you said something along those lines."

"I thought I told you that what we did is over."

"You sure did," Shane replied. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. "It doesn't stop me from reminding you. It must get lonely in that bed of yours. You remember when you said we'd never have fun in a bed again? Looks like we have fate on our side."

"Can you, like, move on or something? Why don't you go sleaze your way into Patricia's bed or something? She must get very lonely without Otis."

A frown formed on his face. "I was just talking to your dad, he looked upset. It was right after I saw him leave here. Y'all have an interesting conversation?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

"Did you tell him something he didn't like?" Shane questioned.

I scooted forward and stood up. "I'm going to go back inside the house."

"He thinks you're hiding something." I was halfway towards the door when I turned around to face him. "What are you hiding?"

"Who said I'm hiding anything?"

"If I don't get it out of you I'll just ask Sophia."

"Leave her out of this."

He unfolded his arms and took a step closer. "You _are_ hiding something. Is it that bad?"

"It's nothing," I told him. "You need to drop it and you also need to stay away from Sophia. If I see you talking to her—"

"You're going to what? Hit me again? Tell your daddy about us? Darlin', you ain't got anything on me anymore. Nobody cares about your suspicions about Otis. That's all they are, suspicions."

"If you talk to her then I'm leaving."

Shane let out a breath through his nose and shook his head, "You're leaving? And where are you going? You ain't getting far with that leg, no weapon and nobody with you. You really did bump your head hard. You need to sleep Olivia. You need rest. I don't know what you saw or what happened out there but you're safe here, okay? I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, to any of us." He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me. I gripped my crutch tightly and allowed the hug. "I'm not going to give up with you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"If something is bothering you I want to know about it. I want to fix it." I used my free hand to push him away from me.

"You can't fix anything. You can't erase what's been done. Everything I saw, everything we went through…" I shook my head and bit down on my lip. "Just drop it."

"You need to tell someone Liv. You can't bottle up everything inside."

"I just don't want to stay here anymore."

"That's it?" he asked. "Why not?"

"Why can't you leave it at that?" I asked. "I don't want to stay here anymore but dad does and he's against leaving."

"You want me to tell him we should leave?" I shook my head. "What do you want me to do about it then?"

"Do you promise to try to keep us safe?" I asked.

"As much as I can."

"That's all I needed to hear."

"Darlin', don't worry about walkers. We'll take care of them if they ever come here. So far there hasn't been a single one. I promise you as long as there's enough ammo in my gun I'll shoot anything that tried to hurt you."

"I thought you weren't supposed to carry a gun around here."

"I don't give a shit what Hershel says," Shane admitted. He reached in the back of his waistband and pulled out his Beretta, the gun I had been using. "He can try to enforce all the rules he wants but I ain't separating anytime soon from a weapon." He put the gun back and grabbed his shirt. "I'm gonna go take that shower now. Coming?"

"Fuck off," I told him while I stepped back and walked out of the RV. Once I stepped off I saw the entire group was sitting around eating whatever Carol had made. I noticed Glenn and Dale were both a little away from the group and started walking towards them.

"You didn't say anything did you?" Glenn asked.

"Does it look like I told anyone?" I asked him. Glenn looked around nervously. "No, Glenn."

"Dale told Hershel and well, Hershel basically said we can go away if the group does anything to the walkers. It's his family in there Liv. What are we supposed to do about that?"

"So we shouldn't tell?"

"We have to," Dale said. He looked over my shoulder at the group then back at us. "Anything can happen. Boards can break, chains can snap."

"If we tell you do know that means we're gone," I told them.

"I realize that," Dale commented.

"I need to get back inside," I told them. "One more second alone with another person and I'm going to tell. I was this close to telling my dad." I put my thumb and index finger up a few centimeters apart. "I can't be around any of them the rest of the night. Not to mention they keep asking how I'm feeling. How the fuck do they think I feel? For fuck's sake, I'm not going to magically feel better overnight."

"Glenn, why don't you take Olivia inside," Dale suggested. "I'll, uh, do my best out here making sure the two of you are far from the group for the night."

Glenn and I started walking towards the house and managed to avoid everyone. He closed the door behind him while I sat on the bed.

"I hate this," he said. "I hate that Maggie is mad at me and that we have this big secret."

"You can stay in here if you want. I mean, if you're afraid you're going to tell someone before tomorrow. Or if you're just afraid you're going to get eaten in the middle of the night." Glenn shot me a death glare. "Seriously, take the bed. The mattress is too hard. It's probably why I haven't been sleeping much."

He walked over to the bed and laid down on it. I got off and grabbed the chair and sat on it with my feet elevated on the bed. "Thanks for this." He kicked his shoes off while I tried getting comfortable in the chair. "Dale said I should be the one telling everyone tomorrow."

"I'm not going to volunteer if that's what you're insinuating."

"I wasn't," he said. "I just want you to be right there when I tell them."

"So I can get yelled at too?" I noticed Glenn finally smiled for the first time today. "Fine. I'll take some of the heat."

"Perfect. Night Liv."

I shut my eyes knowing I wasn't going to sleep much tonight. I really didn't want tomorrow to come. Our safe haven was no longer that anymore.


	13. Hell Followed

**Sorry again for the delay. I keep trying to get an update once a week but I always get lazy. Please review & enjoy!**

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><p>Last night had been another restless night. Glenn mostly tossed and I turned. I wondered how much longer telling the group could be prolonged. Knowing Dale, he wouldn't allow it past breakfast.<p>

Glenn turned his body so he was facing me. "How long do you think we can stay in here?" I shrugged. If I could hide in here all day I most likely would. Blame it on my head, my leg, anything. I didn't want to leave this chair. He brought the blanket up to his face and covered it, "I just want to sleep until all this shit is over with." I agreed with him just by nodding my head. "Want to get something to eat?" I shook my head when he lowered the blanket. "Yeah, me either."

We sat in complete silence until the door opened and Carol walked in with two plates. Sophia stood next to her with her arms crossed over her chest. "Are you okay Glenn?" Carol asked him. She was standing away from the two of us while Glenn lied there looking pitiful. "Olivia?"

"Headache," I mumbled.

"Stomachache," Glenn piped up. Sophia grabbed a plate and sat at the edge of the bed. She held it out for Glenn to grab and he eventually he did. Carol was still holding the other plate which I still hadn't bothered reaching for. Sophia took the initiative to grab the plate and hold it out in front of me too.

"It's good," she told me. "You have to eat. You're starting to look like sh—" She looked up at her mother quickly and then back at me while I finally cracked a smile. "I mean, you look really bad. And aren't you supposed to eat when you're taking medication?" She was waving the plate in front of me.

"Should I go get Hershel to come check on you?" Carol questioned.

"No," Glenn and I both said at the same time. Sophia's eyes darted back and forth between the two of us.

"Maybe you should get Mr. Grimes," Sophia said looking at her mother.

"No, it's fine," I said as I grabbed the plate. I took a single sausage link and bit into it. I've always hated sausage and at this moment I hated it even more. "Mm, good. Thanks Carol."

"Can I stay in here?" Sophia asked. Carol nodded her head and looked over at Glenn once more. I knew she was going back to get my dad and that was the last thing I wanted. She walked out the door, leaving it open a crack and I spat out the sausage that I chewed on into the plate.

"Someone who's hungry could have eaten that," Sophia commented. She stood up and closed the door. "What is wrong with you two?" I pointed to my head and Glenn pointed to his stomach. "Yeah, right." She grabbed the plate out of my hands and went to sit back on the bed. She kept staring at me and I was staring right back at her. She leaned forward and in a low voice asked, "Did you tell him?"

Glenn leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he stared at the two of us. "Tell him what?"

I continued to stare at Sophia who hunched back. She grabbed the sausage I bit into and started eating it. "That I, um…"

"We need to tell the group something," I interrupted her. "It's really bad and well, Glenn doesn't want to do it."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't feel right telling you and not someone else," I told her. "I haven't even told my dad."

"Are you two having a baby?"

Glenn laughed loudly but it wasn't a happy laugh. "No," I told her. "I mean I guess that would be bad too but no."

"I can tell everyone if you want," she said.

"Can you imagine the shit we'd get if we let you tell them?" Glenn asked. He put his plate on the table and threw the blanket aside. "Let's just do this." He leaned over the other side of the bed and retrieved the bottle I had hidden a few days ago. He sat up next to Sophia and unscrewed the cap. He put the bottle to his lips and drank.

"Is that necessary?" I asked him. "You have no food in you."

He removed the bottle from his lips and closed the bottle. "I feel better now." He held the bottle out and I grabbed it but kept it sealed. I put it down by the chair. "Looks like I'm not the only one with a secret."

"I'll tell you another day," I told him. He stood up and stuck his hand out for me. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

"I don't even want to know," he said. "How about a piggyback ride?"

"Do I look like I'm four?" Glenn leaned forward and threw me over his shoulder so quickly that I thought he was going to drop me right on my head. "You're going to drop me, idiot." Glenn teetered a little bit but finally managed to walk a foot to the door and opened it.

"If I don't bring you with me you'll probably lock yourself in here," he said. "I'm not taking the chance." He walked out of the Greene house and struggled a little more as he walked down the steps.

"Just put me down Glenn." He walked a few more feet and stopped. He removed his hand from my thigh and put me down in front of him facing the entire group. I took a step back right into Glenn who was just standing there. "Do it."

He cleared this throat once. "You do it."

"For fuck's sake," I mumbled. Most of the group was staring, as if our entrance wasn't stare-worthy enough. I noticed Carl was sitting in between Shane and Daryl. I wanted even less for Glenn to tell everyone now. "Maybe we shouldn't."

Glenn had left the crutch I normally used behind in the room so I had no support as I walked over to where Carl was sitting holding in the pain that shot up my leg every step I took. He stood up with a large grin on his face and I took his seat. He sat on my lap carefully and I pulled him close.

"You need to stop growing," I told him. He squirmed once in the chair which made me squeeze him tighter.

"Did you fix your problem?" Shane questioned.

I ignored Shane and let my right arm dangle off the arm rest. I looked around at the rest of the group. T-Dog and Andrea were talking with each other, Carol was with Sophia and my dad by the RV and both Glenn and Dale stood apart from everyone else. I noticed they were both staring at each other.

I looked over at Daryl. He was glaring at the camp fire that was now burning out. I reached over for his hand that was hanging over his arm rest. His hand continues to hang there limply so I ran my index finger up and down his arm.

I noticed Dale was now looking over in my direction. I used both of my arms to hold Carl again. Dale continued to hold his stare and I shook my head at him. He looked upset but I really didn't care. Our group was all together and we were somewhat happy at the moment, couldn't it just all stay the same?

Dale started walking over towards me and I wished at the moment I had two working feet to get up and walk away.

"Alright there Olivia?"

"Sure."

"Did I hear right that you know a little about cars?" Dale questioned.

"I don't know that much," I told him while I completely avoided eye contact with him.

"Well do you mind checking something out for me with the RV? I could use your opinion."

I finally raised my head so I was looking at him. I raised my eyebrow while he continued to stand there. "I'm pretty useless Dale. I probably know less than you do."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Man, if she said she don't know anything back off," Shane interrupted.

"Don't be an asshole," I told him. "Carl, get up." Carl listened and stood up while Dale gave me his hand to pull myself up. He led me over towards the front of his RV, out of everyone's earshot.

"Are you backing down?" he asked. I was eyeballing the battery and all the hoses under the hood. "Please don't back down at the last second."

"I wish Glenn never told me," I said in a low voice. I turned my head so I was looking at Dale, "We're still okay and alive. Can't we just put this all behind us? You said it yourself, Hershel thinks they're sick. It's cruel to just take them away like that from him."

"What changed your mind?" Dale asked. He started looking around to make sure the group was out of earshot. "You said yourself that you don't want to lie to your father anymore. Wouldn't you want to know?"

"No Dale. I'm sick of knowing shit. I don't even want to stay here anymore." Dale took off his hat and sighed. He started rubbing his forehead. "It's not up to me anymore. Glenn just wants what's best for everybody and he's going to tell no matter what I tell him what to do."

I was looking at Glenn who was still standing at the same spot I left him at. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets.

"Look at the poor boy," Dale said, "It's eating him up inside."

Glenn finally looked over at us and I nodded at him. He looked back at the Greene house and then at the group. He stepped forward so he was nearer to everybody.

It was now or never. As he stood there digging a hole in the dirt with his shoe I thought about the hell he was going to unleash. Maybe it was for the best so we can move on but knowing the rest of the group they wouldn't want to move on. And knowing Shane, my dad and possibly even Daryl well enough, I knew the amount of shit they were going to give me for keeping this from them as long as I did.

Glenn finally cleared his throat loudly getting everyone's attention. "There are walkers in the barn."

Everyone's heads turned to Glenn and their reactions were exactly how I imagined them. Shane flipped out and grabbed his gun that he had been cleaning minutes before. He stalked over towards the barn, everyone in tow. Glenn and I stood behind glued to where we were standing.

"Feel better now?" I asked. Glenn turned and shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't have to be sarcastic about it. They had a right to know. Don't tell me you wouldn't want to know."

"I wasn't being sarcastic Glenn. And I wouldn't want to know. Look at them! They're scared and angry; they don't know what to do. I wouldn't be surprised if Shane started shooting his gun right now. Hell, he's so pissed off he might shoot Hershel."

"I'm sorry but I had to tell them," Glenn said. "It's not all about you and what you want."

I barely had a chance to argue back with Glenn before the group started coming back. Shane was the first one.

"You knew! You knew and you didn't say anything?"

"You're still alive," I told him.

"And if something happened in the middle of the night? What then? You don't give a shit because you're inside? You're just going to stay locked in there while the rest of us are being torn apart? I never knew you were such a selfish person."

"That's not fair," I argued back. "Why are you turning this on me? This isn't my fault."

"Shane, back off. You can't blame her."

"No Rick. You're too lenient with her. She needs to be told when she's wrong. She knew and was clearly bothered by it but didn't say anything." He was now inches from my face and I felt backed into a corner. How did all of this become my fault?

"It's not her fault," Glenn piped up. "I was the one who didn't want to say anything." I stared at Glenn. He never lied and after he just called me selfish it was totally unexpected. "If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I told Liv to not tell anyone and to talk Rick into just letting us leave."

"Either way she's still a selfish little shit," Shane said. He was fuming as he walked back towards the barn alone. Nobody said anything and slowly they started breaking away, going towards their tents.

"I don't blame you," Andrea said out loud. "I usually agree with Shane but not this time. I'll go see if I can…calm him down." She started walking towards the barn. I figured she was being a kiss ass but she was the only one who said something nice so far.

"I wish you told me," my dad finally imputed. He was quiet throughout this and I wondered if he agreed with Shane. He took a few steps so he was standing in front of me now. "I really wish you said something."

"I'm sorry for being a selfish little shit," I told him mimicking Shane. "The damage is done now. Y'all know and it's not our decision on what we should do."

"You're not selfish Olivia. Don't listen to anything Shane says. I'm going to have a talk with Hershel."

"That's not going to fix anything Dad. Talk to him all you want. There's nothing you can do it about it without being kicked back into the real world. We had our break from reality. It's about time we go back out there."

"Do you want to go out there because of the walkers?" he asked. "Or is there something else? Because when it comes to you now I really don't know who you are anymore. You lie left and right and you keep things from me. You promised that would stop."

"I did?" I asked. He furrowed his eyebrows at me which used to be funny but not so much at the moment. "Go talk to Hershel then."

"I think it's about time you come and sleep outside with all of us out here."

"Might as well get used to sleeping outside again," I told him. He was still frowning as he turned away and started walking towards the house.

I had no place else to go to so I went inside of the empty RV. I walked all the way to the back and sat at the edge of the bed. I was going to lie down when I heard the door in the front slam shut and footsteps started walking towards the back. I figured it was Dale or maybe even Carl but the last person I was expecting to see was Daryl.

"Come to yell at me too?"

"I was going to tell you that you're an idiot but I figured that what Shane said was enough. It wasn't right but it was enough."

"If you're going to be an asshole just go. I probably should have told you guys but I didn't want to. I figured if I told my dad then everyone else had a right to know but I just couldn't bring myself telling anyone."

"I ain't going to call you a little shit or whatever," he said. "That wasn't right." I didn't say anything. "You ain't in here to cry, are you?" I scoffed and Daryl took a seat next to me. "Well, we're still alive so I don't see what the big problem is."

"You don't see a problem with someone keeping a barn full of walkers? Are you trying to make me feel better? You're actually making me feel worse."

"Of course it ain't right keeping 'em in there," he said. "I meant as long as that shit is secured there ain't no reason to go mouthin' off or causin' a big commotion." I continued to sit there quietly "Man, that ain't right though. I couldn't imagine keeping Merle around like that. It'd be more of a hassle than anything. It's kinda twisted if you think about it."

"Thanks for not yelling at me," I told him. "Your asshole meter went down a few points." I wrapped my arm around his and leaned my head on his shoulder. I had already forgotten my promise to stop being so clingy to him. I lifted my head up and removed my arm, putting it on my lap instead.

"There's no one around. No need to act like all proper."

I let out a breath through my nose. "What's that supposed to mean?" He leaned over and pressed his lips against mine. His right hand gripped my face as his lips moved hungrily over mine. While our lips were still connected I moved so I was sitting on his lap. For the first time, I could feel him becoming more aggressive pulling me even closer to him and running his tongue around the inside of my mouth.

Before things got way too intense I felt it was the right time to break the kiss. I felt his warm breath on my cheek.

"If I tell you something do you promise not to get angry?" I asked him. He nodded once and instead of telling him what I was going to I rested my chin on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Do you want to know what happened out there?"

"I was only askin' because you're always running off with that Glenn boy and it's getting annoying. You ain't gotta share." I leaned back and folded my hands on my lap.

"Glenn doesn't even know." Daryl remained quiet. I opened my mouth a few times but nothing came out.

"Forget about it. It doesn't matter."

"There was this guy out there," I started telling him. "I was weary of him while Sophia was trying to get him to help us find the highway. I told him that Sophia was just kidding and we were hunting for our group and he wanted us to help him hunt for his group. So for most of the day we went hunting with him in the complete opposite direction of where we were in the tent. The whole time I was trying to sweet talk my way without seeming like we were lost. I wanted to see if he knew about the highway but he just kept dragging us along with him."

I noticed Daryl's nostrils flare. He was already upset and I hadn't even gotten to the best part yet.

"He wanted to take us to his group," I continued. "And now Sophia knew that this wasn't a good idea. She's so trusting and it annoyed the hell outta me. I hate how kids are like that. But at least she knows now."

Daryl put his hand on top of mine. "You're getting off track." I realized that but I didn't want to finish now. I never could finish anything I usually started; whether it was a story, a meal or my homework.

"I told him that it wasn't a good idea and that since we hadn't caught anything that it was time for us to go back to our group. He said he didn't believe we had a group and that two young girls like us shouldn't be wandering around the woods alone. He kept insisting for us to go with him and I started walking in the other direction. I didn't really give him much thought. He didn't have a gun; all he had was this stupid butcher's knife that wouldn't catch shit out in the woods." I stopped telling the story and sandwiched his hand between mine.

"Finish it," Daryl said. I started analyzing his hand instead. He pulled it away quickly and brought it up to my face and turned my head so I was looking at him. I hadn't looked at him once since I started telling the story. "If this story doesn't have a happy ending I'm gonna go out there and find that piece of shit myself and kill him. Finish the damn story."

For the first time since I had the bandage on my head I started unraveling it. I still hadn't seen myself properly in a mirror but I knew it looked as bad as it felt. "I figured by walking away he was either going to go the other way or yank my arm or something. He was quicker than I thought he was." I shut my eyes and like always the memory flashes before me. I started telling Daryl play-by-play on what happened.

_Before I realized what was happening I was I felt a hand on the back of my head and my head crashing into the tree that was in front of me. I was disoriented for a few seconds. I saw stars and I realized I was on the ground when I was gripping at the dirt. I felt liquid running down my face and from the taste of it I knew it was blood. I started wiping my face and looked at my red hands._

_I heard Sophia shriek once and instead of worrying about the possible gash on my head, I turned my head to look for her. She was standing a few feet away from me and he was standing right on top of me._

"_You're a stupid little bitch," he exclaimed. He walked over to Sophia and snatched Daryl's knife out of her hands. "Dumb bitches shouldn't be alone in the woods. If y'all knew what was good for you you'd listen to me and come with."_

_He bent down so he was inches away from my face. His hand reached for my neck and when I pushed it away he scratched it. I noticed his fingers as he rested his hand on his thigh. He had long nails._

"_You're one sassy little bitch, ain't ya? You wan' know what we do to whores like yourself back to where my group is?"_

"_Run Sophia."_

_The man looked over at Sophia and when he did I had caught him off guard completely by kicking him right in his stomach. Sophia jumped back as he fell to his knees._

"_You stupid piece of shit!" I was going to kick him one more time in his chest since he was on his knees but he moved quicker than I did. He caught my foot in his hands and while I pulled back he ripped my boot off. "You're just as dumb as you look." He leaned over to straddle me and put his face right in front of mine. He grabbed my neck tightly, "If you do that again I'm going to gut the little one and make you watch."_

"_Just leave her out of this. You're not going to touch her."_

_A sadistic laugh poured out of his mouth. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do." I spat in his face which caused him to slap me. He was still fuming as he started rubbing his hands up and down my body. He started tugging at my shirt and when I tried pushing him off he gripped my shirt even tighter, ripping it at the bottom. He noticed the rip and tried his best to completely rip it off. I saw Sophia walking behind him and throw a medium seized rock at the back of his head. He groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "Fucking asshole." He reached for Daryl's knife that he had momentarily dropped at his side and tried getting up._

_I thought he was about to stand up but instead he turned around and started running the knife blade up and down my leg. Since his back was turned to me I slowly started moving my hand to reach for the gun that was still kept hidden from him._

_I heard Sophia shout "no!" and felt a stinging pain in my lower leg. I tried to move my leg but the small jerk I made caused more pain._

"_No," Sophia shouted. "Stop it." I heard the crunching of leaves and assumed Sophia was either walking closer to us or further away. I knew she had to have been walking closer when I saw him lean forward and I heard Sophia fall to the ground._

_I finally pulled the gun from the back of my waistband. I had it aimed at the back of his head. "Turn around, cocksucker. I told you not to touch her." I felt my leg stinging again and realized now that he was using Daryl's knife to cut a deep circle around my ankle. I turned the safety off in the gun and when he heard the click he looked back._

"_You think you a tough little whore now that you have a gun?" he seethed. He finally stood up and Sophia ran off behind the closest tree._

_I struggled to my feet and looked down at the blood that was dripping down and soaking my sock. "Get away from us. Go back to your shitty group or I'll shoot you in your neck. I'll let you bleed out and hope a walker gets to you before you die."_

"_You ain't got it in ya to shoot me, whore." I silently prayed to any god that was willing to listen for no walkers to be around and for this monster to be lying. I wasn't sure whether or not he had a group but from the sound of it, it seemed like he did. He took one step forward and I took one back. He laughed again. He took one final step before I shot him in his stomach._

_He fell back and started withering around. I walked closer to him and didn't feel the pain in my leg; instead adrenaline rushed up and down my body. I bent down to retrieve Daryl's knife. I stuck it in his collarbone once and removed it quickly. I had to make sure he was dead and the gunshot wasn't satisfying enough._

_While I was still crotched down I moved his body around and took off his flannel shirt that was now soaked in blood. He was still alive, drowning in his own blood. I didn't wait to see the light leave his eyes. Instead I grabbed Sophia's hand and walked away._

Daryl seemed to only have two expressions: emotionless and anger. Right now he had a mixture of both and I wasn't sure if that was towards me or the man.

"You killed him?"

"I guess so."

"Good."

I turned my head to look at him. "Good, what do you mean good? I was on Shane's case about killing people and I'm such a fucking hypocrite."

"If you didn't kill him I woulda." His fists were balled up tightly resting on his knees. "Stupid motherfucker. You can't trust anyone." He stood up and had his back turned to me. "How do you expect me to not be angry about that? He was gonna rape and kill y'all."

"That's not the part I was worried about," I told him. "I didn't tell anyone because I don't want anyone being angry that I can just kill a human so easily. I didn't even hesitate." I ran my fingers through my hair and finally lay down on the bed. "What is wrong with me?"

"That wasn't a fucking human being. You don't need to beat yourself up over that shit. I feel like goin' back out there and hopin' he's alive just to kill him myself." Daryl finally sat back down and put his hand on my thigh. "Come on, sit up."

I listened to him and without hesitation he leaned forward and embraced me tightly. "You ain't gotta worry about that worthless piece of shit anymore."

I hugged him tighter and kissed his neck. "What about his group? What if they're looking for him and they find us?"

He stopped holding me and put his hands on the side of my face. "I'll kill anyone in that group with my own hands if they touch you or Sophia…. Or any of the other women."

"I still want to leave here." He placed his lips on mine once more and broke the kiss quickly.

"We're probably gonna leave soon since we know about them walkers in the barn. Old man ain't gonna have it."

For a few minutes I had forgotten about the walkers in the barn. Every second I spent with Daryl calmed me. As cheesy and stupid as it sounds, I had forgotten everything around me whenever I was with him.

He kissed my forehead this time and before he and I could separate I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up at the hallway and he had his arms crossed across his chest.


	14. Dead Wrong

**Thank you again for the reviews! I'm working long hours this week but I'll try to get another update up soon. Thanks for reading! :)**

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><p>"Am I interrupting... again?"<p>

"No Glenn."

"Well, at least it's just me." He cleared his throat once. "I just wanted to apologize."

"For what?" I asked. "You took all the blame. I should be thanking you."

"Yeah, but that's after I yelled at you. I'm sorry. Can we just go back to being buds? And go back to pretending I didn't just see you two being all..." Glenn stopped talking abruptly and was staring at Daryl who had a scowl on his face.

"Why don't you go talk to Maggie?" I suggested. Not only so Daryl can stop scowling but maybe Glenn would be in a better mood. He was so snappy and annoying ever since Maggie stopped talking to him.

"Yeah, why don't ya?" Daryl said. I elbowed him quickly and stood up to walk closer to Glenn.

"Go talk to her," I told him again. "She's going to have to get over it. All you did was tell us their secret. You haven't pulled the trigger yet."

"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time, isn't it?"

"No it's not," I told him. "Everyone wants to stay here right?" Glenn nodded his head. "So, they're going to have to ignore it. Or at least try to. Let Shane sleep outside that barn all day and night, it's his choice." I looked behind Glenn's shoulder and noticed Dale was sneakily trying to grab the bag of guns under the table. I pushed Glenn aside and looked at Dale. "What are you going to do with those guns?"

He held the bag close to him and started inching towards the door, "Can one of you kids keep watch?"

"Dale, what are you doing?"

"The right thing," he said firmly.

"You leaving us completely unprotected?" Daryl asked. "That ain't a smart move, old man."

"Your father went to talk to Hershel about allowing us to stay here," Dale said. "Having these guns around is going to provoke Shane to use them to kill all of those walkers. I can't have that."

"Where are you going to hide them?" Glenn asked. "Can't you at least leave one behind?"

"There's a rifle on the roof and I know there's at least three handguns floating around." Dale quickly walked out of the RV door.

"Should we stop him?" Glenn asked.

"I don't even know why you're asking that," Daryl snapped. "That wrinkly old goat is taking our guns." He pushed his way past Glenn.

"I thought you don't even use a gun," he said. "Don't you only use that bow and arrow of yours?"

"Just leave it alone Daryl." I wrapped my hand around his bicep. "Please?"

"It ain't just the walkers y'all need to be afraid of," Daryl said. "We need those guns back."

Daryl walked out of the RV and Glenn and I followed. Dale was long gone and Daryl stood at the far end of the campsite looking out in all directions.

"What's he mean we don't have to just worry about the walkers?"

"No idea," I lied to him as I noticed Shane was stalking over towards us. "Go talk to Maggie, Glenn." I started inching my way towards where Daryl was still standing. "You're not going to find him."

"I'm gonna put a gun to his head when he comes back. How am I supposed to keep anyone safe with just a crossbow?"

"You've been surviving so far," I reminded him. "Just drop it with the guns. Or let someone else deal with it. You don't have to take over everything."

"He just took 'em right in front of us. You really want me to forget about it? Nah, he probably went that way. I'm gonna go get 'em back."

Daryl started walking down towards the field and right when I turned around I almost bumped right into Shane. "Where the hell is Dale?"

"Dunno."

"Goddamn it, that's some bullshit. Everything that comes out of your mouth is nothing but lies."

"Then why are you even asking?"

"Those guns were there this morning," Shane said raising his voice, "And you were in there and now they're gone. So either you did something or Dale did."

"Yeah, I took all the guns and threw them into the barn. Oh wait; you've been sitting outside the barn for the last half hour, haven't you? It's hard keeping all these lies straight."

"Where the hell did Dale go?" Shane shouted.

"I don't fucking know," I shouted back. "Why don't you go follow the redneck?" I pointed with my thumb at Daryl. I started walking closer to the RV so I can get as far away as I could from Shane when I felt him tug on my arm as hard as he could. "What is your problem?" I tried prying his hand off of my arm but it just caused him to squeeze harder. "Let go of my fucking arm." I dug my nails into his arm and he still held on. "Shane, stop it."

"Yo, what the hell are you doing?" T-Dog said out loud. I hadn't seen T-Dog around in so long that I had almost completely forgotten about him. But at this moment I could practically kiss him.

Shane finally released his grip on me and looked down at his hand. "Sorry Liv."

"You're not sorry you piece of shit," I shouted at him.

"I am," he said again. He turned around and took off after Daryl, most likely looking for Dale.

"Shit, what was that all about?" T-Dog asked. "You good?"

"Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem," he said. "Shane's been an asshole ever since we came here. If he was a woman I'd blame it on PMS but I really don't know what to blame it on. Maybe that shit that went on with him and the dude that shot your brother. I'd be in daze too if I saw someone go down like that."

I smiled at him and leaned over to hug him. "He just hates me so of course he's always yelling at me and shit."

"Your dad doesn't know?"

"He probably doesn't care."

"Nah, girl. I'm sure he cares. I've never seen a grown man that's a police officer cry when you weren't around."

I had to bite down on my lower lip to prevent myself from laughing. "I'm sure he was crying over Carl more than me."

"It was probably for you too," T-Dog said. "So why is he looking for Dale?"

"He, um… took the guns."

T-Dog's eyes grew big. "Shit, what for? Now we got all them walkers in there and no guns?"

"There are a few guns," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but none of that heavy shit, like the shotguns and stuff. There's a few dozen in there. What if they, you know, get hungry and break out?"

"Then we hop in the RV and get the fuck out of here," I told him. T-Dog let out a laugh but he still looked worried. "I'm sorry we told you like that."

"Nah, don't worry about it. At least y'all said somethin'. I would have hated to have been sleeping and get eaten alive like what happened at our last place."

"Do you like it here? I never really asked you."

"It's a good place," he said. "Water, food and until earlier it was a walker free place. I almost want to thank you and Sophia for running off like that."

"Or you could always thank Otis for shooting Carl," I brought up. T-Dog narrowed his eyes at me and shrugged.

"He's looking good. Glad to see him outta bed for once."

"I think he still needs to rest still," I told him.

"I could tell you the same thing." He pointed his finger up to my head and pursed his lips. "That shit looks painful. Shouldn't it be covered up?"

"The bandage was annoying me," I said. "Maybe some southern air will do it good."

"Or maybe it'll get more infected," T-Dog said. "You been taking some of Merle Dixon's clap pills?" I let out a loud laugh and nodded. "Did you know Daryl got some meth in there as well?"

"Really?" I asked. I didn't see Daryl as a meth head. If T-Dog really saw what he saw, the meth had to have been Merle's. "Is it bad if you try it once? Doesn't it fuck up your teeth?"

"Yeah, but not the first time. I've never tried it but I'm pretty sure trying it now wouldn't be smart. Anyways, you wanna go get out of the sun? You still don't look all that great." He put his hands up quickly in defense, "Not that you look bad, I just mean you should be sitting down or something." I nodded my head and we both started walking towards the Greene's home. "Oh shit, I forgot you hurt your leg. I can walk slower or do you want a lift or something?"

I shook my head and laughed. "I can't baby it all the time otherwise I'll never get better."

"Yeah, but walking on it when it's hurt ain't smart," T-Dog said. "I'm gonna lift you up, you're not gonna scream are you?" I shook my head again and T-Dog hesitated but crotched down instead. "Hop on."

"God, what is with you and Glenn offering piggy back rides?" I asked. I eventually gave in and hopped onto his back. He held on to my legs and started walking towards the house. Glenn and Maggie were both sitting on the front porch while Carl was sitting at a table with Beth and Patricia.

"Looks like y'all made up," I commented as T-Dog put me down. I saw Glenn look away, most likely blushing and that made me laugh.

I sat on the stoop next to Glenn and turned my head towards Carl. "Did Dad come out yet?"

"He went with Jimmy and Dad," Beth replied. She glanced over at Patricia and then looked down. "They should be back soon."

"Where'd they go?" Carl asked.

"My dad's allowing y'all to stay," Maggie said, "If your dad helped him out with something. They're doing a perimeter check, to make sure we're still okay."

"He could have asked more of us to go with him," Glenn said. "We'd all do anything if he lets us stay here."

"Yeah, let your Dad know we'd do anything to help out," T-Dog said. "It's the least we can do."

We spent the next ten minutes talking. Andrea, Carol and Sophia all joined by now. Patricia seemed to be in a better mood and was even making plans about when it becomes winter time that our group was going to need to come inside. She started talking about having to rearrange the furniture in the living room so we could all squeeze in there. Maggie had mumbled something that only Glenn and I heard about being glad Patricia was going to find things to keep her busy.

All the chattering silenced once Glenn and Daryl had both made their way up towards the house. Shane had gotten his way and was clutching the gun bag. Daryl was holding onto a shotgun and I looked at him disappointedly.

Maggie had quickly gotten up and walked up to Shane. "What are you doing with all of those guns?"

"Protecting ourselves," Shane replied. He looked over at Glenn and had a gun in his hand, "You know how to shoot, right?" Before Glenn could answer Shane had thrown a gun in his direction. He handed T-Dog a gun as well.

"My dad is going to kick you guys out," Maggie told Shane. "Don't be stupid. Put the damn guns away."

Shane completely ignored her and walked up to Carl who was standing next to me. He held out two handguns and looked down at Carl then back up at me. "I want y'all to take these. I want you to protect each other no matter what."

I shoved the guns away. "Carl doesn't even know how to shoot. What's he going to do with a gun?"

"Take it Liv. Take it and protect him then."

"Stop being an idiot Shane. Nobody wants to leave here and you're going to send us back out there at this rate."

"You wanted to leave," Shane reminded me. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Hershel was kind enough to let your bitch ass stay here. You're not going to shoot up his family and friends just because you're uncomfortable with them being there."

"They aren't his family and friends anymore Olivia! They're not even alive." He grabbed Carl's hand and handed him the gun. He looked at me and waved the gun in front of me. "Take the gun."

"Or what? Are you going to put your hands on me again?"

"Oh, shit." Everyone turned their heads to T-Dog and looked beyond at what he was looking at.

Up ahead we saw two walkers being led by Hershel and my dad with another young man walking behind them.

Shane had dropped the handgun at my feet and already taken off for them. I picked it up as the group started running after them. Daryl was the only one who hadn't taken off and was trying to find a way to help me out. I kept walking towards them, one step at a time. I tried to keep my grunts and complaints to myself.

"Lemme just help you," Daryl said. "Come on, you can't be pissed off at me for taking a gun."

"That's not why I'm upset. You're siding with Shane of all people."

"I ain't siding with him. He's got a point though."

"He has no point," I said rolling my eyes. "He's just pissed that he didn't know and that he feels like his life is in danger."

"Because it is…in a way." He finally reached over and wrapped his arm around my waist, guiding us towards the group. Shane yells were echoing and even though we weren't near him the entire time we knew exactly what he was barking about.

"—because they ain't sick! They're dead! These are the things that killed Amy, Otis. They bit Jim. They aren't human anymore!" Sophia ran over towards where Daryl and I stood and squeezed my hand.

I looked down at her and all I saw was fear all over her face. She squeezed again and I looked down at her. "Do you want to go back in the RV?"

She shook her head and kept looking at the walker Hershel had a grip on. "It's him."

I looked at the walker Hershel was holding onto. His back was turned to me but he was wearing a tank top that used to have been white at one point. His back was covered in blood. Shane was circling the walkers and they kept reaching out for him.

Shane walked closer to us and it gave me the chance to look at the walker Sophia was talking about it. "Hershel, lemme ask you somethin'. Can a livin', breathin' person walk away from this?" He raised his gun and shot at the other walker in her chest three times.

Everyone was in shock at what Shane had just done but I kept staring at the walker Hershel was trying to guide away from Shane.

I looked at the walker and noticed the front of his tank top was completely covered in blood. I tried looking for a gunshot wound and tried talking myself out of it but the walker looked exactly like a dead version of the man from the woods.

"Shane! Stop it!" my dad yelled out.

"Can a normal person survive that?" Shane shouted. "That's three shots to the chest. Not a single living person can survive that. So tell me why it's still coming?"

I stopped holding Sophia's hand and started walking towards the walker. Nobody bothered paying attention to me. They were all focused on Shane, not sure of what he was going to do next.

"Shane, enough!"

I looked at the walker and he kept reaching out for me, snarling and growling. I had a better look of him now. Below his neck he had a single knife wound and that alone almost knocked me off my feet.

Another gunshot rang out but this time it wasn't Shane who was firing the shots. Without realizing it I had raised my gun and shot the walker in his head. The look on my dad's face was enough to make me feel guilty but I had no emotion for what I just did. Despite the man he was when he was alive he was now a walker. I shouldn't feel guilty. I should feel relief.

"Finally, someone else is thinkin' straight," Shane said. I heard another gunshot and assumed Shane had shot down the female walker. I heard the poles fall to the ground with a thud.

I finally started feeling something. I felt sick to my stomach staring down at the lifeless walker. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to get bitten and come back to haunt me all over again. I leaned over and felt the bile crawl up my throat and spew out of my mouth all over him.

"I'm tired of doing things your way Rick. You just want to please people, but the hell with that. Those aren't people we need to be protecting."

"Shane, just stay away from the barn. You've done enough."

"Enough? I haven't even begun." Shane darted towards the barn door with my dad in tow yelling after him still. Shane had managed to get the chain off while keeping my dad off of him.

Carol had grabbed Sophia and Carl and held them behind her. Shane had managed to get all of the protection that was on the barn door and started stepping back. My dad moved back and stepped next to Carol like he wanted nothing to do with what was about to go down.

Shane was in front of everyone, gun drawn, waiting for the walkers to come out. The first one came out and Andrea and T-Dog both ran next to Shane. He had already shot it down when another one came out and soon more started pouring out.

I caught a glance from Daryl and turned my head to Glenn who was holding up his shotgun unwilling to move. The three of them started shooting but there were too many walkers for just the three of them to put down.

I heard sobs coming from Patricia, Beth and Maggie. Hershel was on his knees, powerless to do anything. Daryl gripped his shotgun and I could see his resistance to shoot. Glenn called out for Maggie and she nodded her head. He rushed forward aiming at one; he shot it twice before it finally went down. I walked next to Glenn and raised my gun to the walkers.

I aimed at the closest one and watched it fall. I could still hear the quiet sobs behind me over the gunshots and stopped shooting. This family had let us into their lives and we pay them back by slaughtering the people they cared about. These people were their family members and friends and they believed they were sick.

I lowered my gun as Daryl came running over and started shooting at the walkers. Over a few dozen walkers later, they were all dead and nothing else came out of the barn. Nobody had moved and all that could be heard were the sobs from the Greene family and Patricia.

Beth ran over towards the bodies and bent down and started touching one of them. Nobody minded her until she let out a scream as the walker started pulling at her hair, trying to bite her. Maggie ran over to her sister while Shane shot the walker.

Everyone started walking away. Maggie held onto her sister and followed her father back towards their house. I walked backwards until I reached the first walker I shot. I looked down at him and my eyes went back towards the knife wound. When I crotched down I noticed the gunshot wound.

"What are you doing Olivia?" I looked up at my dad. The usual emotions were all over his face when it came to me: anger, disappointment, loathing, bitterness, tiredness. "He's dead. You don't need to examine him. Get off the ground."

I ignored him and wondered where he had been bitten. His top off looked bite-free, it was just bloody from the wounds I gave him. I looked down at his feet. He was still wearing both shoes and his jeans weren't torn.

"That's not possible," I whispered to myself. I started looking more closely at his body. I remembered what I saw on the news. They reminded us not only avoid getting bitten but we couldn't be scratched by an infected person. I looked up and down his arms looking for scratches of any kind and found none.

"Olivia, stop." This time he crotched down and started pulling me off the body.

"No. I have to see," I said more to myself than to anyone else. "I didn't mean to do this. It was his fault. I didn't want this."

"What do you mean?" he asked. He turned my head with both of his hands and looked me in the eye. "Olivia, tell me what you mean. You didn't cause his death. You only shot him down after he was already dead."

"No, he doesn't have any—"

"Come on honey." He grabbed me by my shoulder and picked me up to my feet. "Let's get you out of here."

"No. Just get Carl out of here," I told him. "I'm fine, really."

He led us back towards the camp. Without saying a word he walked towards the house. It wasn't going to do him any good. We might as well just pack of shit and take off now.

I sat down on one of the chairs and Daryl came to occupy the chair next to me. "What was that about back there?" He leaned over and nudged my knee. "Hey, was that the guy? That's what the girl meant, wasn't it? He's the one, isn't he?"

"I caused that," I said in a low voice. Nobody else was around but I couldn't speak above a whisper right now. "I made him like that."

"He was gonna kill you," Daryl said. "All you did was wound him. You didn't turn him into a walker."

"No, he…he. I did that." I looked over at Daryl and he shook his head.

"It's not possible for your bullet to turn anyone into walkers," he told me. "He musta ran into one after y'all took off. You shot down those walkers in the church. Maybe one of them did it to him."

"Yeah." I nodded my head. "You're right. I'm being delusional for nothing."

I was now lying to Daryl and it hurt more than every lie I've ever told my parents. I knew there was something different, off, about the man from the woods. Was there something else we were missing about walkers? Did we only have to be bitten or scratched to turn into one or was there something more? I flashed Daryl a reassuring smile and leaned back in my chair.

At this moment I wish I had opted out with Jenner.

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><p><strong>As you can see I really like messing around with Shane's character making him nice one second then a jerk the next. I see his jerk qualities as almost redeeming though. "He cares" lol<strong>


	15. A Whirlwind Inside of My Head

**So sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. I will try to update quicker next time. There's a bit of smut for those who wanted it.. If not feel free to skip ahead. Thanks again for the reviews :)**

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><p>The day had flown by in a blur. T-Dog and Glenn both volunteered to dig two holes for Hershel's wife and step-son. After that they left the family to grieve over their lost loved ones. Andrea and Shane on the other hand spent the day putting the rest of the bodies in the back of a pickup truck to burn them far away from where we were still staying.<p>

Everyone stayed inside their tents for the most time. They were all anticipating for us to finally move on. They all knew we had probably been told to leave hours ago but no one had bothered asking if the rumors were true.

The sun was already starting to set and it had been decided that Carl and I would no longer stay inside Hershel's home. Dale told us both we could sleep inside his RV in his bed but I didn't feel right about invading his space too. After a few arguments, mainly between my dad and me, I gave in.

I sat up in the small bed making sure Carl had enough space and was comfortable and soon enough he was fast asleep. Despite the headaches I was still having I was feeling like how I was a week ago before the time I spent away from the group. I pulled my knees up and started unraveling the bandage around my leg. I grabbed my flashlight and shined it down at my leg.

I hadn't bothered thoroughly looking at my leg until now. I had no idea what this sick fuck had in mind when he ran the knife around my leg like that but I was just thankful he didn't cut any deeper. I ran my finger over the cut and was glad that it had at least stopped bleeding.

I turned off the flashlight and stood up so I could hear if Dale had fallen asleep. After standing towards the bathroom for at least twenty minutes I heard Dale's breathing and soon I heard his snores. I put more of my weight on my leg as I tiptoed out of the RV.

I shut the door quietly behind me and hoped that nobody was outside at the moment. Without using the flashlight and taking larger strides I finally walked into Daryl's tent. I was greeted with an arrow inches from my face. As soon as I flashed my light at him he slowly lowered it.

"What the hell are you doin' sneakin' in like that?" he barked. He put down his crossbow and reached for the lantern that was on the ground. He turned it on and after I shut his tent I sat down next to him.

"Do you sleep with that?" I questioned. I saw Daryl furrowing his eyebrows. "You probably cuddle with it and everything." He finally relaxed his forehead and let out a short breath through his nose. "You wouldn't have to sleep with that if you actually closed your tent. Unless… were you expecting me to come in?"

"No."

"You're a bad liar," I told him.

"Why don't you just listen for once?" he asked. "You need to stay in an actual bed."

"That bed is practically the same size as your cot. And did I mention Carl is a violent sleeper? He punches in his sleep."

"Just tie up his hands or somethin'," Daryl said.

"You're just as funny as I am."

Daryl stretched once and moved towards the edge of the cot practically kicking me off in the process.

"You gonna turn that light out?" He questioned.

"Are you kicking me out already?" I asked while leaning forward and turning the lantern off. Just as I did that I felt his arm snake around my waist. I leaned back and laid down parallel to Daryl. I felt giddy for the first time in a while. Earlier in the day I had been so down from everything that was happening but now it was a complete 180. I had to contain myself from doing or saying anything stupid right now. Daryl was different than any guy I knew.

This was the closest I had been to Daryl despite already having kissed him. I felt like I did at the CDC. I felt safe and content, my usual feelings when I was only around Daryl, like none of this walker bullshit was happening.

"Don't get too comfortable," Daryl said. I felt his warm breathe on the back of my head. I turned my body so I was now facing him. I leaned forward and my lips connected with his neck. I kept them there and laughed into his neck after he cleared his throat. "You know your old man is gonna come lookin' for you in the mornin'." I craned my neck to kiss him two more times; once on his jaw and the second one I planted on his lips. "Alright, that's enough for tonight."

I moved my right arm to his back and started drumming my fingers. "If you say so."

"I was just suggestin' we stop before it gets all weird."

I refrained from laughing and instead I kissed him again. "I'll stop if you're getting all hot and bothered, but can I ask you something?" I took his silence as a yes. "Have you ever done anything with a woman? I mean, usually this is the part where you at least take off your shirt."

"'Course I have," Daryl said. "It's just this end of the world shit... Why would you even consider fucking around with me when there's the Asian boy or…"

"Or?" I asked. This time I started laughing. "Or? There is nobody else unless we meet some other group. And trust me; I hope that if there really is a God that we don't cross paths with any other group." I sighed loudly and brought my hand up to his neck. "If you're completely clueless, I actually like you. But if you don't want to, well, you know, I get it."

"I just didn't want you regrettin' it one day," he replied. "Or getting knocked up."

"You just don't want to get caught," I told him. "The next time a gun is pointed you think it might be you looking down that barrel."

Daryl took my head in his hand and carefully brought it forward to his lips. He kissed my forehead gingerly and sighed. "Alright then," he finally said. "But what am I supposed to do? Pull out?"

"Run your hand up and down my shoulder," I told him. "Tell me when you feel something weird."

He did just as I told him to do and soon enough he was running his thumb back and forth over the same spot on my arm. "What the hell is that?"

"It's a birth control implant."

"Why do you have it?" he questioned.

"Um… to not get knocked up like you so kindly said."

"I just meant I didn't know you've done it before."

"Yeah, Daryl…" I bit down on my bottom lip trying to avoid smirking. "I have."

"Guess there's no reason for us not to then."

"Unless you just want to forget this conversation ever happened," I suggested.

He pulled me closer to him and his lips went straight for my neck. He was being gentle and I was glad for that. I didn't want to have anyone question the bite marks on my neck that sprouted overnight.

The cot was so small I was afraid that soon enough we would end up on the ground. He moved so he was on his knees hovering over me. I was now on my back and Daryl leaned forward. His lips went back to my neck and soon made their way up to my mouth. His hands became tangled in my hair while our lips moved in synch with each other.

He stopped kissing me and his face was inches from mine. He was breathing heavily now, "Your head okay?"

"It's fine."

"Leg?"

I wrapped my legs around his and grabbed him by his shoulders. I kissed him as my way to assure him that I was fine. I reached for the bottom of his tank top and started moving it up. He broke the kiss to quickly remove it himself and he threw it on the ground.

He pulled me up slowly so I was sitting up and he hastily took off my shirt for me. He kissed me on my lips, down to my chin, my neck and my collarbone. Right then he reached around and started fumbling around with my bra and quickly threw it on the ground. He started kissing my chest and took his time when he reached my nipples. He bit one of them softly and continued moving down. He planted one last kiss below my belly button.

He leaned back and starting slipping off my shorts and underwear. He quickly stood up to remove the rest of his clothes. He was hovering over me again, running his fingers up and down my thigh. I groaned out loud and reached for his fully stiff member.

I ran my finger up and down which caused him to shiver. He reached for my hands and held them above my head. He soon filled me with all he could causing us both to groan out loud. I realized that last groan was a little too loud and had to bite down on my lip from moaning anymore. I was risking a lot by doing this so close to everyone else this late at night. But at the moment I cared very little about getting caught. I was too into the moment.

My entire body was on fire from the building orgasm and I wanted more. He continued to thrust himself inside of me and I've never felt anything so amazing.

"Fuck," Daryl whispered quietly. I saw he too was biting down on his lip. I knew he was close but I didn't want this to be over. The blood rushed from my head to my feet. He finally reached his peak and I felt his warm release inside. He slowed down and while he was still inside me, he laid on top of me placing a final kiss on my chest.

We had both fallen asleep and when I finally woke up I noticed the sun had already risen. I tried not to wake Daryl when I moved his arm. I managed to get off the cot and started putting my clothes back on.

Just as I put my shirt on, Daryl stirred. "You tryin' to sneak out?"

"I wouldn't do that," I told him as I flung his boxer shorts at him. "I thought it would be better to be dressed." I sat down next to him after he put his boxers on. "Although… I wouldn't mind a repeat of last night."

"Might as well do it as much as we can before we leave this place. And today is probably moving day."

"Probably," I replied back. I stood up kissed him one last time. "I'm going to go talk to my dad." I peeked out of his tent and noticed the coast was clear. I wasn't sure which tent I was looking for but before I could start opening tents I saw Shane and my dad both walking from Hershel's house. Shane had his usual frown and I assumed they were coming back with bad news.

"Hershel's missing. Maggie thinks he's back to his old ways and I'm going to check out the local bar."

"You're going alone?" I asked. "Can I go?" Before I could even finish my sentence they had both shouted "no". "You're not going alone Dad."

"I came out to ask Glenn to go with me," he said. "He's already been to town."

"Don't drag him with you. Let me come."

He scoffed once and shook his head, "No Olivia. You're not going with us, especially with that leg. You need to stay off your feet and keep an eye on Carl."

"What's the point of going out looking for him when he's going to kick us out?" I asked.

"He saved Carl," he replied back. "He saved your brother's life and now his daughter is lying in her bed in shock for what she saw yesterday. I owe him that much. He needs to be with his family."

"So if you go out there and find him, does that mean we're staying?"

"We're just going to have to play it by ear."

"Come back alive then."

I left the two of them and went into the RV. Carl and Sophia were the only two inside. Sophia stopped talking to Carl and quickly looked up at me.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

"Never better."

"You don't look it," she said.

"It's nothing," I told her. "My dad just left with Glenn to go find Hershel."

"Dad left again?" Carl questioned. "Why doesn't he ever take me with him?"

"Same reason he didn't take me with him," I told him.

"Why does Dad always volunteer to go out?"

"He likes helping people," I told him.

"Where did you go last night? I woke up and you weren't there."

"I went to sit on the roof a little bit," I lied to him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Can Sophia and I go outside?"

"I'm not your mother. Do whatever you want. Just don't go off too far."

"My mom wouldn't let me wander off too far anyways," Sophia replied. "But we can stay in here with you if you want."

"Just go outside," I told them. "Don't go too far."

The two kids left the RV but before I could have a minute to myself Dale walked in and sat across from me.

"Did you sleep okay?" I asked him. "You really didn't have to give up your bed for us."

"Don't worry about it."

Dale looked out the window and I saw a frown form on his face when he turned away. I looked out the window and saw Shane was standing with Carl and Sophia.

"You don't like Shane," I stated.

"He's not a good man." He swatted his hand in the air. "I'm sorry. He's your father's friend but it felt good telling someone else that."

"Why don't you think he's a good person?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Dale replied.

"You just said you don't trust Shane and you're leaving it at that?" Dale kept quiet. "I don't like him all that much either so we're on the same boat. Did he threaten you?"

"He may as well have." He sighed and looked out the window. "I think he had something to do with Otis' death."

Finally there was someone that was agreeing with me. I knew I wasn't being delusional. "Did he say something about that?"

"The way he told the story," Dale said, "It didn't sound right. Not to mention he said enough to admit he did it."

"I thought the same thing too. I just don't get why he would do it."

"He said there were too many of them for just the two of them to deal with. He shot down Otis to escape is what I'm thinking what happened."

"He only did it for Carl. Shane was never like this before. I know he wouldn't kill anyone else that didn't deserve it."

"Otis didn't deserve to die like that," Dale interrupted. "He was only trying to help."

"I didn't mean it that way," I told Dale. "He went a little crazy yesterday but those aren't people anymore. He won't kill a living person as long as he's in this group. I promise you that."

Dale looked like he wanted to say more but he resisted saying anything else. "If you say so Olivia."

I spent most of the day waiting for Glenn and my dad to come back. Hours had past and I left the RV once to go back inside the house. I wanted to check on Beth. She was still lying on her bed as she had been all day.

Maggie refused to leave her bedside and I decided I had spent enough time inside that room. I went back out and walked inside the tent that looked like the one Glenn, Carl and I had slept in at our previous place.

Sure enough I recognized Glenn's bags and my bag. I started rummaging around for clean clothes. I had been wearing the same clothes for the past few days. I changed and crashed down onto one of the cots. I shut my eyes and tried to get some sleep.

I heard someone slip quietly into the tent and walk up towards my cot. I figured the person was crotched down when I felt calloused fingers run up and down my face. I opened my eyes slightly and saw it was Daryl. He planted a kiss between my eyes and stood up to leave.

I wanted to reach for his hand to pull him back but it was way more risky in the daytime to do anything. I slipped into a deep sleep and was awoken by Carl furiously shaking me awake.

"Carl, what the fuck!"

"Dad's back," Carl shouted. "He's back and he brought some guy with him."

I opened my eyes finally. "What do you mean he brought some guy with him?" I finally sat up and was practically eyelevel with Carl. "Are he and Glenn okay?"

"Yeah, they're fine!" He pulled my arm to force me to my feet. "Come on."

He started pulling me out of the tent and the first thing I hear is Shane and my dad arguing. I should have been used to it by now but I wasn't.

"They left him to die," my dad was saying. "He's not a threat."

"Anyone who we don't know is a threat," Shane shouted back. "Why the hell did you even bring him back?"

"He's just a kid."

I was looking around for this kid they were talking about but I didn't notice anyone new. Before I could ask anyone where the new guy was I noticed Hershel was walking up from the barn. He was wiping the blood off his hands with a towel.

"I stitched him up as best as I could," Hershel said. "He's still out but he's going to need to rest up for at least a week."

"Who did you bring back?" I asked. "And why would you do that?"

"His group left him for dead," my dad said again. "I couldn't leave him behind. There were so many walkers." He shook his head. "I couldn't do that."

The rest of the group hadn't made many complaints about the three guys bringing back a stranger. I started backing away from everyone and made my way towards the barn. The door was closed and I opened it.

I walked inside and saw a young guy sitting on the floor with a blindfold covering his eyes. He looked young, around my age. I bent down and started to take off his blindfold.

"What if he was a part of that group?" I turned around quickly and noticed Daryl was standing at the barn door.

I looked back at the guy. His eyes were closed and he didn't look like he was pretending to be asleep. I pushed him over so his arm was parallel to the ground. I started digging through his pockets for no reason. I just wanted to know more about him.

I was about to give up digging through all his pockets when I reached into a small pocket inside his jacket. I felt something and pulled it out. It was a picture folded in half. I unfolded it and what I saw made me quickly throw it down.


	16. Crumbling Like Pastries

**Thank you guys so much for the reviews and alerts! So sorry again for lagging on updating this. I spent most of my free time catching up on my sleep. I will try to update sooner next time. xx**

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><p>I backed away from him and looked down at the ground. Daryl walked over to pick up the picture. I felt like crumbling at any moment. "This is that asshole, isn't it?" He started waving in front of my face. "Is this the same guy you thought you killed?"<p>

I stared at the guy lying in front of me. He looked so helpless. I looked down at his leg and wondered if the group he with did this to him. He twitched in his sleep and it made me flinch.

"Hey! Are you hearing anything I'm saying?"

"That's him on the right." The picture had three men in it. The one in the middle was clearly the guy sitting in front of me, the one on the right was the same man from the woods and the third guy was the only one I didn't know. The three of them were most likely brothers or at least relatives judging from the same dark hair and eyes

"Son of a bitch," Daryl muttered. "You're telling me that fucker wasn't lying? There are more of them?"

I took the picture back from Daryl and shoved it back where I found it. I wish I didn't find it. I don't know what I was even looking for when I started looking.

"You need to say something," Daryl said. "Or at least ask if he was alone. You can't keep this shit to yourself anymore."

"Didn't you hear what they said? They said his group left him for dead. That means they ran into more of them. We need to leave. What if they just left to get more people?"

I started walking out of the barn. Glenn was the only one standing nearby. Everyone else was nowhere to be seen.

"Everyone went inside," Glenn said softly. "They're deciding what to do with Randall."

"Deciding?" I asked. "Deciding what exactly? Why did you guys even bring him back?"

"It wasn't my idea," Glenn said raising his voice. "That was the last time I'm going to volunteer to go on anymore adventures. I don't know what to be afraid of more, the walkers or people."

"What's that supposed to mean? What happened out there?" I reached over to put my hand on his shoulder but Glenn recoiled. "What is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem. I'm just telling you everyone's inside and you're up my ass about bringing back Randall."

"I don't give a shit about this Randall guy. All I care about is if you're okay and clearly you're not since you're being a jackass."

Daryl was starting to walk up towards us and that instantly made Glenn turn to walk away.

"What's his problem?"

"I don't know," I replied watching Glenn walk away back towards the house. I rolled my eyes and continued to stare at his back. "He said they're all inside putting it up to a vote about what to do about this asshole."

"Since when did we put anything up to a vote? Asshole needs to be shot down."

"He's just a…"

"He ain't just an anything," Daryl interrupted. "He's from a group that lures woman away to probably rape and kill 'em. Assholes like that don't need to be anywhere near us." He started walking towards the house and turned when he realized I wasn't following him. "You comin'?"

I looked back at the barn and back to Daryl. We both walked towards the house and entered it in the middle of another argument between Shane and my dad.

"I still don't get why you needed to bring him back here," Shane was saying. "Who cares if he was going to bleed out? You shoulda left him. We don't owe the son of a bitch anything."

"He's a young kid. It was the right thing to do helping him out. His group left him for dead."

"From the sound of it, it sounds like his group was trying to kill you," Shane said. "What's stopping me from going down there and putting a bullet in his head? We should leave his corpse in the middle of a highway, away from here. That way nobody goes looking for him and find us."

"He was blindfolded and out cold the entire ride back here. We are not going to kill him. He's not a threat."

"Not a threat? You killed how many from his group? Three, right? You wouldn't have killed them if they weren't a threat, Rick."

I looked over at Glenn who was staring down at the table. That explains his weird behavior. "You killed people? I thought we weren't supposed to do that."

"We didn't have a choice," Hershel said.

"And you're saying these people aren't a threat to us?" Shane questioned. "Don't you care about any of us? Your kids? You take one of their men hostage and you don't think they're going to come looking for him?"

"Should we have someone watch him all the time?" T-Dog asked.

"He's going to be out cold for a while," Hershel commented. "And he's going nowhere on that leg so I recommend you stay away from him for the time being." He was looking at Shane and started walking closer towards him. "This is still my farm and we haven't even begun dealing with what you did with all those people in the barn. I ought to throw you out but you're part of Rick's group and he talked me out of it. I may not like it but for now you need to keep your mouth shut."

Shane glared at Hershel and walked out of the house. Everyone looked around at each other and eventually everyone else started leaving the house.

"Let's go find Carl," my dad said and led me out of the house. It wasn't hard finding Carl. He and Sophia were playing nearby the house as they were told to do. I was waiting for my dad to tell Carl to come with us but he never said anything. He kept walking and eventually we reached his tent.

He walked in, sat down on his cot and sighed loudly. He took his gun out from its holster and laid it down next to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. I moved his gun and sat in its place. When he didn't answer I looked over at him as he stared straight ahead. "Don't beat yourself up over what you did. If you had to shoot those guys… well, then you had to shoot them."

"It's not just that," he said, "I just feel like every decision I try to make for the good of the group turns out to be a bad one."

"Shane's the only one that thinks all your decisions are bad," I told him. "And who really cares what Shane thinks? Nobody likes him anyways."

"I don't even feel bad about what I did though. I killed those men because all I could think about were you and Carl. But what if bringing back Randall was a bad idea? They left him for dead, I'm almost positive they aren't going to come looking for him… but what if?"

"You did the right thing." I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "People aren't always going to be trustworthy anymore. You gotta do what you gotta do. The only thing you can do is move on."

He finally turned his head. "What was up with you shooting down that walker? Why were you so interested in him?" I shrugged my shoulders and I knew he hated that but I didn't want to get into the past right now.

"Are you just going to leave that guy in there until he can walk?" I asked. "What if he has people looking for him? Can we just leave?"

"Not this again."

"You said so yourself that you're not sure if someone will come looking for him."

"They're not going to look for him," he stated firmly. "I don't need you saying these things especially in front of anyone else. The only person leaving that farm is going to be Randall." He stood up and started rummaging around in his duffel bag. "Are you going to tell me why you were checking that walker?"

"Because I felt like it Dad."

He turned around with a clean shirt in his hand and folded his arms across his chest. "Who's the guy?"

"I don't know."

"Stop lying. Stop hiding things from me."

"I'm not lying to you."

"That's all you're good at," he said. It felt like a verbal slap to the face.

"Being an asshole isn't going to make me tell you anything."

"Glenn knows, doesn't he? Will I get it out of him?"

"Will you stop it? Glenn doesn't know anything because there's nothing to know."

"Did you run into that walker or something? Is that what it is?"

I shut my eyes and put my head in my hands. Daryl was right. I couldn't keep this to myself any longer. If I wanted to protect the group from any more harm I had to speak up.

"I shot him." I finally lifted my head up and looked at him.

"Yeah, I know you did," he said. "I saw you put him down. Why?"

"No, I shot him. In the woods."

"That's what's been bothering you? You shot at a walker and missed?"

"He was alive when I shot him," I told him. He leaned back and cut his eyes at him. "He was going to kill us." He mouth fell open and he just stared at me. "So I shot him." He closed his mouth and remained expressionless. "Say something!"

"I don't know what to say."

"Then why did you drag it out of me?"

"I wasn't expecting you to say that," he admitted. He sighed and mumbled something incoherent to himself. "Seems like you're spending too much time with Shane. First Merle and now this guy?"

"Did you hear what I just said? I said he was going to kill us. You shot three guys because they were going to do the same to you so don't give me your bullshit."

"I wasn't going to say anything." He sat back down next to me. "You said you think Shane killed Otis. I'm starting to believe that more now. I just don't want you to kill the living and shrug it off as if it's nothing."

"I'm not shrugging anything off. It's been bothering me ever since I shot Merle but what am I supposed to do? I can't keep anything buried down because you keep asking if I'm okay every ten goddamn minutes. I'm not okay, dad. I won't ever be okay. I couldn't even kill those walkers from the barn. They were Hershel's friends and family and I just couldn't do it…"

"That just means you have a conscious. I'm sorry for comparing you to Shane. You're clearly nothing like him. Is that why you wanted us to leave? Do you think the guy you shot was a part of the group we just met?"

"What if he was? What does that mean for Randall?"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"He might have a family," I told him. "What if they weren't with him that night but come looking for him?"

"Those people outside and in that home aren't family," he told me. ""But I wouldn't ever leave any of them behind for any reason."

"You left Merle behind," I reminded him. "Daryl went back for him. What if someone comes back for this kid?"

"Is there something else you need to say? Why are you so sure someone's going to come looking for him?"

"No. There's nothing else."

"After he heals up we're driving him far away from us. We're not going to have to worry about him anymore."

I stood up and without looking back I walked out of his tent. I didn't feel any better telling him. I was surprised that he didn't ask more about what led me to shoot that guy and why hadn't I said anything sooner. I wasn't going to ever get into that with him unless I was on my deathbed. He didn't need to know details.

Most of the group wasn't around but at that moment I didn't care so much. I went straight towards Daryl's tent and when I walked in I zipped it shut. He was lying on his cot flipping through a book.

I lay down next to him tossing the book over my shoulder. "I told him about the guy." I pressed myself closer to Daryl and put my face close to his chest. "He still doesn't want to leave."

"You didn't tell him about the picture," he stated instead of asking. "So he only knows that you shot a guy."

"He doesn't look at me the same way after I shot Merle. I think he thinks I'm a basket case or something."

Daryl leaned back and grabbed my face with his free hand. "I knew I shouldn't have asked you to do that. You're not a basket case."

"You haven't killed a person yet," I told him.

"He has no right to think low of you," Daryl growled. "He shot those guys earlier. I don't care if he's your daddy; he's going to get an earful from me if he brings up one more time about you shooting people."

I sat up and looked down at Daryl. "I just have this really bad feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Well maybe now that you said that nothing is going to happen."

"If only," I whispered to myself. I looked down at Daryl and leaned down to kiss him. "You can help me forget."

He squinted his eyes and shook his head. "No. It's the middle of the day." I swung my leg around and sat on top of Daryl, straddling him at the waist. "Good Lord, have you ever been told 'no' before?" I leaned down to kiss his neck and I moved up towards his jaw. He cleared his throat and I eventually reached his lips. I kept kissing him until finally he gave in.

He ran his hands up from my waist up towards my face. His hands went back down to my waist and he starting pulling my shirt up. I felt his calloused fingers rubbing against my skin and that feeling alone drove me crazy.

I finally felt him stop kissing me back and I sat up. "Not now," he said again.

"Tease." I ran my finger down his arm and stood up.

"Maybe later," he said.

I rolled my eyes and fixed my shirt. "Maybe I don't want to do it later."

I was about to leave Daryl's tent when I heard running footsteps outside. Soon after I started hearing Carl's voice calling out my name.

I unzipped Daryl's tent quickly and soon saw Carl was running around the campsite.

"Carl, what's wrong?" I rushed over towards him as quickly as I could.

"Come with me," he said out of breath. He started pulling me away and every time I asked him where we were going he would pull harder.

"Carl! Where are we going?"

"Over here," he said. He continued pulling and soon we were entering a clearing and walking through some woods. I saw Sophia up ahead and she was staring at the two of us with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?" I asked them. Carl continued pulling me and kept getting upset that I couldn't be as quick as he was. He pulled me for another minute and before I could ask him what he dragged me out here for I saw it.

It was a walker and it was stuck in the mud growling up at us.

"What the fuck Carl?" I yelled at him. That caused the walker to snarl some more and try to break free from whatever it was holding it down. "Why are you two out here and what the fuck!"

"You said that already," Carl said. "Look at him. He's stuck."

He thought it was a joke and finally stopped smiling when he realized I wasn't laughing. "Do you even have a weapon?"

"No," Sophia and Carl admitted at the same time.

"Let's get out of here," I told them. "No more adventures. Go pretend the RV is a spaceship, I don't give a shit but you two are not leaving the campsite ever."

"Dad said it was okay."

"I was just with Dad," I told him. "Don't lie."

"I'm not lying! I asked him can we go by the trees and he said 'uh hum.'" Carl looked over at Sophia who just nodded.

"He's distracted," I told him. "It's like asking your junkie parent for money and the car keys when they're clearly stoned."

"Are you going to tell Dad?"

"Fuck yeah."

"But he's going to tell my mom," Sophia said.

"Sophia, you should know better after the shit we went through. These woods aren't safe. Now start walking. I'll get Dad to take care of this fuc-" Before I could finish my sentence I heard footsteps right behind me.

I turned to see the walker had now gotten loose and was walking towards us. Both Carl and Sophia whimpered and started running, leaving slow me behind.

I tried picking up the pace but every time my bad leg touched the ground I felt a shooting pain. I was cursing myself for not having a weapon. I didn't bother turning around to see how close the walker was. By the sounds of his growls I knew he was mere inches behind me and right now I was actually scared shitless.

I continued running as fast as I could in the same general direction and saw the clearing up ahead. I prayed that the kids were smart enough to at least tell someone to come help me out but by the time that could happen it could be too late.

I pushed myself and right when I got to the edge of the clearing I stepped on a rock and fell to the ground. I tried to get up to my feet but by now the walker was on his knees reaching for me. He hadn't pinned me down yet and I got one good kick in his face.

He moved back a little which gave me the chance to get up. The second I got up my silent prayers were finally answered. A loud shot rang out and I heard the thud of the walker. I fell to my knees quickly and let out a shaky breath.

The footsteps of the shooter came running and they crotched down right in front of me. I felt their hands tightly gripping me by my shoulders. I looked into Shane's eyes and quickly forgot about everything that we had said to each other in the past few weeks. Right now he was my savior and I was forever grateful.

"Are you okay? I saw y'all running in here and figured I should check up on you." I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly. He hesitated like he did before but pulled me tightly into his chest and helped me up to my feet. "You're okay now."

I stopped hugging him and leaned back. I did something unexpected of me and I knew I had caught him off guard and probably everyone else who were now running up towards us. I pulled his face close to mine and kissed him full on the lips.


	17. The Truth May Vary

**Thanks again for the reviews/alerts! You guys are awesome. Again I will try to update as soon as I can. I wrote this one a little longer than the last two so I hope you enjoy.**

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><p>I really don't know what is wrong with me anymore. Near death experience or not I realized a full minute after kissing Shane that I shouldn't have done that.<p>

Without even looking at the dead walker behind us my dad marched over and started leading me away from everyone. He pulled me into his tent and glared at me. I had never seen him looking so upset that it was almost laugh worthy. His had a vein on his forehead that looked as if it was going to explode at any second.

"In my defense I almost died." He still continued to glare. "You know your other kid was out playing in the woods so save the yelling for him too." I glared back at him. "It's not like I fucked him! What I did is better than what I am going to do to Carl. He better hide because I'm going to kill him for running away like that."

"Do you have any shame?" he asked.

"Why are you making such a big deal?"

"Everyone saw you two."

"Nobody saw," I said quickly. He was still glaring. "No. No, they came after. Shane was the only on that came."

"He was just ahead of everyone else. Me and Daryl were right behind him when Carl came running."

Daryl.

That word alone made me realize what an idiot I am. I was only happy to be saved that I didn't think of what consequences came with my actions. Daryl was never going to talk to me again and my dad looked as if he would drive me away with Randall and leave the two of us alone to fend for ourselves.

I felt angry at myself. I had finally gotten Daryl to stop being an asshole for five minutes and I completely ruined it in five seconds. He is surely going to distance himself even more from the group and from me. I knew deep down that he had to at least enjoy my company a little bit and now that was all over.

I felt my eyes starting to burn. "It's all Carl's fault. He said you told him he could go play in the woods. They wandered and found a walker. They left me alone when they know I can't run."

"When are you ever going to admit your faults? All I hear coming from your mouth is accusations. I never told Carl he could leave the campsite."

"So because he left it's my fault?" I asked. "I'm not his goddamn babysitter. He's the one that came running out of breath looking for me. How was I supposed to know he was going to drag me out there to show me a fucking walker?"

"Stop swearing. If you would only listen to me you wouldn't be in this situation. I told you to rest and you don't. You always used to throw in my face that you're an adult but you act like a child. If that's how you're going to be I'm going to treat you like a child. You're not going to leave this tent at all until you can actually run."

"Please don't do that Dad." I started thinking about Daryl more now. I wondered if turning on the waterworks would soften my dad up. I stopped blinking hoping that would make my eyes more watery and it actually started working. "You can't keep me locked in here. I'm sorry Dad. I thought he was the only one that cared."

"Nobody will ever care for you as much as I do," he said raising his voice. "Shane doesn't care about anyone but himself. He's incapable of even loving anyone so just stop throwing yourself at him or the next person that will be left behind will be Shane. I don't care how long I've known him but I will kill him myself if he even looks at you again."

"Do whatever you want," I told him quickly. For the first time in a while I finally realized that everything my dad said about Shane was a lie. If Shane didn't really care for anyone he wouldn't have brought Carl and I out of the city like he did. He wouldn't have bothered saving me even after the many arguments we had gotten into but I was not going to argue with my dad when he was pissed.

He furiously ran his hand over his hair and walked out of the tent. I sat on his cot and stared at the ground. I felt miserable. My leg still burned, my head was pounding, my heart was still beating fast and all I wanted was for Daryl to hold me close and make it all go away.

I don't know what made me more disgusted in myself; the fact that I wanted a guy to hold me to fix my problems or the fact that I ruined anything more with that same guy.

I spent the rest of the day in the tent by myself. My dad kept Carl away from me all day and I was glad for that. There was nothing stopping me from strangling him. I didn't even care to hear that he ripped his stiches and was back inside Hershel's house resting again. It served him right playing games like that when he was the one who should be resting.

The day was getting to me and time was passing by extremely slow. If I was supposed to be taking it easy and stay in this tent all day long then I was going to take advantage. I got comfortable as much as I could on the cot and fell asleep.

I woke up twice and both times I didn't feel like it was time to wake up yet. I continued sleeping as long as my body would allow and by the time I woke up for good the sun was shining brightly. I assumed it was early the next day.

The tent was empty and disobeying my "rules" I walked out of the tent. The group were all gone and the only one around was Dale. Exchanging as few words as possible he told me they had all gone down to the shooting range again.

I was going to ask if Daryl went with them but he came out of the RV at that same moment. He glared at me once and started walking away without saying a word. He was obviously pissed. It wasn't all just make believe in my head. What was that supposed to mean though? Did it mean he cared more than he admitted? Was that even a good thing anymore?

I stared at his retreating back and thought that going after him wasn't a good idea; especially if there were no witnesses around. His glare alone told me he would probably stab me with his arrow and I wasn't sure if that was the way I wanted to go down. After yesterdays near death experience I no longer wanted to opt out. Dying that way wasn't a way for anyone to die.

Without even trying so much as breathing in front of Daryl I went back into the tent. I spent the next six days in that tent avoiding everyone and keeping to myself. Glenn tried getting me out twice and spent half the day with me reading one of Dale's book but he eventually gave up and left to spend time with Maggie.

During the early afternoon on the sixth day I started pacing around the tent and my leg was finally feeling almost 100% better. I changed into some decent clothes for the first time in almost a week and left the tent.

Dale and Carol were both sitting down at the picnic table and I had managed to completely avoid them. I had no idea where I was going but when I reached the barn it felt right. I was trying to open the barn door and I realized it had a padlock on it. The sight of the padlock alone made me roll my eyes.

I started walking around the barn and found a ladder that I quickly started climbing. I walked around the top section of the barn and saw Randall was still sitting in the same position that he was last week. I found another ladder that led me down and I started walking up to him.

He was still blindfolded and his arms were behind his back tied up. His head jerked in my direction as soon as I started walking closer. I crotched down in front of him and he tried to lean back. I pulled down his blindfold.

"Aren't you a site for sore eyes?" Instead of untying the blindfold I pulled it off which caused him to groan. "What'd you do that for? I was complimenting you. The other guy that comes in here is always pushing me around. I barely moved from this spot in a while. I can barely feel my ass anymore."

"Have you been eating?"

"One meal a day," he said. "They serve prisoners more meals than what I've been getting here." I noticed a bucket and a half empty bottle of water lying a foot away from us. I stood up and grabbed the bottle and put it to his lips. He drank greedily and I almost felt bad for him.

"Have you been untied at all?"

"Once a day to take a piss," he said. "Also one hand to eat." He smacked his lips a couple of times and I put the bottle back to his lips. He finished the water quickly. "Thanks for that. You're not like the others."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked as I threw the empty water bottle to the side and sat in front of him. "Who visits you?"

"I haven't seen anything or anyone since I've been here so I couldn't tell you. I just know a couple guys came in here. They were dicks. A chick came in once too. She was alright. Why are you in here anyways?"

"Everybody's doing their own thing," I told him, "And I'm kinda just there."

"And these people are your group?" I nodded my head and he cocked his eyebrow. "Doesn't sound like much of a group. You and I should get out of here." He winked which caused me to roll my eyes.

"And go where? We won't get far just the two of us. Do you have a group?"

"Well…. Kinda," he admitted. "I mean, I had a group. There were a lot of us and well some people wandered away and we've split up looking for 'em."

"I heard you got left behind by people from your group. They don't sound like very nice people to want to go back to."

"I didn't say I wanted to go back to them," he said.

"You don't have any family? Or friends in your group?"

He looked around the barn before answering the question. "I have two brothers."

"So they must be worried about you."

He looked around again and then at his legs that were crossed in front of him. "Probably not. One of 'em is dead… probably."

"What do you mean he's 'probably' dead? You don't know for sure?"

"He went off hunting almost two weeks ago," Randall started. He shook his head and laughed, "Dumbass didn't even bring a gun with him. Anyways, I haven't seen him since. We went looking for him and that's when we crossed paths with your group."

Randall unknowingly just told me that the man I shot was his brother and his group is people we should be afraid of and hope to never cross paths with them. I felt like telling him his brother was dead and what I did to him but that wouldn't make me feel better. I hated reliving those days Sophia and I were away from the group and being near Randall brought up all of those memories.

"He sounds like a dumbass. You know if you continue talking about your group that 'dick' you keep talking about is going to kill you."

"They wouldn't have kept me tied up so long if they're going to kill me, Princess. They're probably going to let me go right?"

"And if they do? Are you going to go find your group?"

"Well I do have one brother still alive," Randall admitted. "So yes, if I'm freed I will go looking for them unless they find me first."

"Your group left you for dead though. How do you know they're going to come looking for you?" He shrugged his shoulders and I realized why whenever I did that it annoyed my dad. "Don't shrug your fucking shoulders. I asked you a question, idiot."

"I don't owe you any answers little lady. I said enough in exchange for that water." My head turned towards the barn door when from the outside I heard someone fumbling around with the lock. I decided to stay put because I wouldn't make it in time to run back up and there were very little hiding spots. He sighed and looked at me with a smirk on his face. "I would give you more answers if you'd help a buddy out with his situation down below. It's been awhile since I've seen a pretty lady and had a decent fuck."

"You're a fucking pig," I said standing up finally. Just as the barn door open I leaned forward and spat in his face.

"Whoa… That ain't lady like. How did you get in here anyways?" Shane asked.

"Ah, shit," I mumbled to myself. Shane was the one person I was trying to avoid all along. I should have known he'd show his face sooner or later. "Um."

He walked closer to where I was standing and glared down at Randall. "What did you say to her, asshole?" When Randall didn't say anything Shane kicked his bad leg which caused Randall to howl to pain. He turned to look at me while I stared at him with my eyes opened wider than normal. "How did you get in here?"

I pointed to the ladder and looked down at Randall who was trying to comfort his leg but couldn't. I started walking out of the barn before Shane stopped me to say anything else. I had to get away from the barn before anyone saw me leave and went running to my dad about it.

As soon as I got a good distance away I saw him walking towards me. "I stood in that tent for a week Dad. You can't make me go back in there."

"I'm not going to make you go back. You all healed up now?"

"I can walk without a limp… so that's good news, right?"

"That's good. Now how about you go eat something? You barely touched the food I left you."

"Have you talked to Randall?" I asked. "Has he said anything about his group?"

"He hasn't said much. He's just been pleading for nobody to kill him and swears his group won't come looking for him."

"Well, he just told me they will come looking for him. You might as well just kill him."

He looked taken aback and furrowed his eyebrows. "We are not killing him." He looked behind me and then back at me. "Were you in the barn? With Shane?"

"I was in the barn first and then he came and then I left." I saw his jaw clench and he bit down on his bottom lip. "Nothing happened!"

"I believe you. Now go keep an eye on Carl and behave. He feels bad enough for what happened."

I scoffed loudly, "No way. He's the reason why nobody wants to talk to me and you hate me so much."

"Everyone's worried about you. Nobody hates you, especially not me. Just watch your brother."

"Where are you going? Off on another get yourself killed adventure?"

"We're going to take care of the Randall problem. He's going to be left far away and his group isn't going to find us. They left him behind, you need to remember that."

"He has brothers," I blurted out. "He said they're alive and will look for him."

"He's just trying to make you more scared than you already are. He doesn't have brothers and if he does they're not alive."

"Well for your sake I hope you're right."

"I'll be back soon," he told me. "Just please work it out with your brother, eat something and stop being so antisocial." I started walking away from him frowning to myself when he called out my name stopping me in my tracks. "You know I love you, right?" I nodded my head and continued walking towards the campsite.

Carol and Dale were both still sitting at the table and I went to sit down on one of the chairs. Within seconds the door to the RV opened and Carl and Sophia both came out slowly. Carl grabbed one of the chairs furthest from me while Sophia stood behind him.

"Hi," Carl said in a low voice. I continued to glare at the two of them.

"You look pretty today," Sophia piped up.

"Stop pretending to be nice," I told them.

"We're not pretending anything," Carl said. "We're just being nice people, unlike you."

"You left me behind, asshole."

"I'm telling Dad. He said you were going to be nice."

"I want you both to promise me that you won't ever do anything like that again. If you want to play you play within someone else's view. What if that piece of shit got free when I wasn't there?"

"We outran it," Carl said. "So it worked out."

"Promise me Carl. Dad will flip his shit if his favorite child got bitten. And Sophia, all your mom has is you so I want you to promise me too."

"Promise," Sophia said. She nudged Carl who just nodded his head.

"Good, now I'm not going to have to kill you two." Sophia looked taken aback while Carl just laughed. He was so much like me when it came to taking things seriously that I couldn't blame him for laughing and not agreeing.

"When's Dad coming back?" he asked.

"I wouldn't know. Don't worry about him." I stood up and looked at them again, "Dad said to watch you but you're old enough to do that yourself. Just stay in the RV. Or stay near Carol and Dale, okay?" They both nodded.

I was going to go back towards the tent when I saw Daryl walking out of the woods and towards his tent. I stopped walking as I watched him walk. I hesitated for a few seconds and finally grew some balls and followed him. Just before he walked in his tent he turned to see me coming.

"I don't have time for you right now," he seethed.

"I just want to talk to you for a minute."

"A minute is way too long to waste on you."

"Why are you being like this?" I asked.

He was holding his crossbow and threw it inside his tent. "Why am I being like what? I should have known something was up with you and him."

"That's not true. Nothing is going on between us. I just… he saved my life."

"I saved your life before," he told me. "You didn't do that."

"It was a mistake. I know that. It just happened."

He shook his head. "Mistake? Did your mouth mistakenly fall on his? It just magically happened a minute after I told you I didn't want to fuck you? Some coincidence."

"I'm sorry. It's just a stupid instinct I have. I thought I was going to die and he saved my life."

"You weren't in any danger," he snapped.

"Speak for yourself. That walker was drooling all over me and I couldn't run."

"I'm sure he was," Daryl said. "You would have probably fucked him if he were alive."

"Why are you being such an asshole? I'm trying to admit I'm not perfect and that it was a mistake and you keep throwing shit in my face."

"The only mistake was messin' around with you when you've probably fucked everyone in this group."

His words felt like a punch in the face and at the moment I didn't know which of us deserved a punch in the face. Sure I messed up but it's not like we are even a couple for him to get so upset with me.

"Why are you being like this? I didn't even stick my tongue down his throat. It was like kissing a grandfather or something."

"Why don't you just take your skinny ass legs and use them to walk away. I've had enough of listening to your excuses. Whatever we had is over with. Have fun with the bald-headed asshole."

"I don't want anything to do with him," I told him. "Don't be like this. It was a one-time thing and it's never going to happen again. I'm…sorry."

"You're not sorry."

"Yes I am. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to beg? Because I will fucking beg for you to stop being such a dick. You know that I don't like Shane. I'd rather get my face eaten off than to do anything more with Shane than I already have."

And I really did mean what I said except I won't ever tell Daryl that I had done more with Shane than just a little kiss.

"You had six days to get over it," I said. "What's the real reason why you're so pissed? Is it because I took so long to apologize or is it something else?" He continued to frown at me but this time he turned his back and was about to walk into his tent. "Fine, asshole."

I turned away, completely fuming at both Daryl and myself. It wasn't my entire fault. It was just a stupid instinct. I was still angry at Shane for gripping my arms so tight and refusing to let go. I had a huge list of reasons to be upset with Shane but I still kissed him.

I was actually hoping that Shane got left behind with Randall so I'd never have to see him again.

I stomped my way back to the RV to check on Carl but both he and Sophia weren't in there. I didn't think I missed them outside but when I went back outside they weren't anywhere to be seen. I started checking tents and gave in to talking to Carol.

"Have you seen the kids?" I asked her. Her eyes widened which meant she had no idea where they were. "Little fuckers." I quickly went back into my tent and grabbed my gun that I hadn't bothered carrying for a while. I checked to make sure it was loaded and left the tent.

"You don't think they went back in the woods, do you?" Carol asked.

"Knowing Carl they probably did," I said.

"Let me get Dale. I don't want you going in there alone."

"Send him after me," I told her as I started walking away from her. "I got a gun this time. I'll be fine."

I walked quicker and kept a tight grip on my gun. I was actually thinking about shooting Carl in the face for disobeying me and being a selfish brat. How hard was it to stay in an RV? It was a lot better than sitting in a hot tent all day. I hadn't even been with Daryl that long and Carl had already run off.

I made my way into the woods and kept an eye out for ways to not get lost. I walked in a straight line listening for voices or sounds but didn't hear much. I walked a little further in and noticed I was in the same area as I was last week where Carl found the walker.

"Carl, where the hell are you?" I said out loud.

I heard some noises up ahead and started slowly walking in that direction. I walked straight and noticed at least four walkers bent down on their knees with their hands digging into something in the ground. I couldn't get a good view of what they were eating and I started thinking whether or not if it was a good idea to shoot them at this moment. It was four on one and I wasn't a fan of those odds.

I took a step closer and heard their "meal" making noises that sounded close to a dog whimpering. Whatever they just killed was still alive. Not only did I have to kill them but I had to put down an animal. Disgusted I raised my gun and shot one.

The gunshot caused the rest to look in my direction. As soon as they moved I saw what they were eating and I froze with my gun stuck out in front of me.


End file.
